Indian markets extended gains for a second straight session on Monday, 26 May, with benchmarks closing firmly in the green, led by strength in heavyweights such as ICICI Bank, ITC, and Reliance Industries.
The Sensex rose 455 points, or 0.56%, to close at 82,176.45, while the Nifty 50 settled at 25,001.15, up 148 points, or 0.60%. Broader markets also advanced, with the BSE Midcap index gaining 0.56% and the BSE Smallcap index adding 0.48%.
On to the top stock picks for today as recommended by some of India’s top market experts.
Stocks to trade today as recommended by Trade Brains Portal
Tata Chemicals Ltd
- Current price: ₹ 873
- Target price: ₹ 1,100 in 16 to 24 months
- Stop-loss: ₹ 759
- Why it’s recommended: Tata Chemicals Ltd (TCL), a Tata Group company, is one of India’s largest manufacturing firms, operating across two core verticals—Basic Chemistry Products and Specialty Products. Its basic chemistry portfolio includes essential inputs for industries such as glass, detergents, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and more. TCL operates Asia’s largest saltworks, is the third-largest soda ash producer, and the sixth-largest sodium bicarbonate manufacturer globally, with a manufacturing footprint across four continents and 12 plants.
Key products include soda ash, sodium bicarbonate, cement, salt, marine chemicals, and crushed refined soda. In the specialty segment, TCL’s agri-science offerings reach 80% of India’s districts, servicing over 13 million farmers with crop protection and agri-input solutions. The company is also building a domestic platform for advanced chemical solutions, collaborating with R&D bodies such as ISRO, CSIR-CECRI, and CMET for the development of indigenous actives, battery cells, and recycling solutions.
TCL’s India operations span Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, with key installed capacities including: Soda ash: 1.09 million tonnes (MTPA); Sodium bicarbonate: 0.29 MTPA; Salt: 1.6 MTPA; Cement: 0.5 MTPA; Prebiotics: 5,000 tonnes; Specialty silica: 10,800 tonnes
Global operations include: US: 2.54 MTPA of soda ash; UK: 90,000 tonnes of bicarbonate, along with salt and pharma-grade salt; Kenya: soda ash capacity (undisclosed MTPA in draft).
TCL plans to invest over ₹3,500 crore between FY26 and FY28 for regular maintenance and brownfield expansion—particularly in Kenya’s soda ash operations. In FY25 alone, it invested nearly ₹2,000 crore, with another ₹550–600 crore earmarked for FY26. This includes: ₹18 crore to expand the prebiotics plant; ₹60 crore to add 50,000 tonnes of soda ash capacity in Kenya.
- Risks factors: TCL’s soda ash segment is vulnerable to volatility in international prices, driven by global currency movements, competition, and trade dynamics. While FY25 saw global soda ash demand rise—led by China (18%) and India (4.5%)—demand fell 2.3% in the rest of the world. Uncertainty around tariffs also poses risks to the sector’s supply-demand balance.
Jupiter Wagons Ltd
- Current price: ₹ 402
- Target price: ₹ 489 in 16-20 months
- Stop-loss: ₹ 358
- Why it’s recommended: Jupiter Wagons is a leading producer of various railway wagons, passenger coaches, load bodies for commercial electric vehicles, alloy steel casting for rolling stacks and tracks, and refrigerated containers, among other products. It caters to various sectors, including Indian Railways, commercial vehicles, defence, and logistics. As of FY25, the company has an order book of ₹6,303.6 crore. It has a capacity of 10,800 wagons per annum and plans to enhance the capacity to manufacture 12,000 wagons per annum by FY26. The company currently has 12 manufacturing facilities across various locations, including Odisha, Indore, Pune, Aurangabad, etc.
In FY25, the company reported a total income of ₹4,008 crore compared to ₹3,668 crore in FY24, up 9% year-on-year (YoY), while Ebitda stood at ₹578 crore, up 18% YoY, and margins grew by 14%. Net profit surged 15% to ₹380 crore from ₹331 crore in the previous year.
Earnings per share stood at ₹9.08 for FY25, a 10% increase YoY. In Q4FY25, the company secured an order worth ₹600 crore from Ambuja Cement and ACC Ltd. for manufacturing and supplying BCFCM (Bogie Covered Fly Ash/Cement Rakes) Rake Wagons.
Jupiter Wagon’s subsidiary, Jupiter Tatravagonka Railwheel Factory Pvt Ltd, has also won a ₹255 crore order from Braithwaite & Co. for the supply of railway wheelsets. Additionally, the company is setting up a railwheel and axle forging plant in Odisha, with a phased investment of ₹2,500 crore. This plant will produce 100,000 forged wheelsets annually, which will cater to both Indian Railways and international clients.
The company has entered India’s electric logistics segment, with its brand TEZ, in Indore. The company has set up a 2.5-acre manufacturing facility at Prithapur, where the company has invested ₹100 crore. This plant has an annual production capacity of 8,000 vehicles. In the brake business, the company has secured an order of about ₹150 crore for its joint venture (JV) with Dako and ₹60 crore for a JV with KOVIS and expects the revenues to be fairly strong in this segment going forward.
Risk factors: The company gets bulk orders from Indian Railways, private logistics, and industrial players. Any changes in budget allocation could squeeze down the orders to low units. In addition, an increase in raw material prices, primarily steel, could affect the company’s production efficiency. The situation gets even worse if order execution delays and less consumer demand could adversely affect the profitability of the company.
Best stock recommendations for today, by MarketSmith India
Buy: Housing & Urban Development Corp. Ltd (current price: ₹238.26)
● Why it’s recommended: Strong financial performance, government support
● Key metrics: P/E: 16.83, 52-week high: ₹353.70, volume: ₹ 566.29 crore
● Technical analysis: Reclaimed its 200-DMA
● Risk factors: Asset quality and credit risk, high leverage
● Target price: ₹ 280 in three months
Buy: Tata Motors Ltd (current price: ₹ 729)
● Why it’s recommended: Strong domestic market presence, global and domestic demand recovery
● Key metrics: P/E: 11.27, 52-week high: ₹ 1,179, volume: ₹ 952.62 crore
● Technical analysis: Trendline breakout
● Risk factors: Intense competition in EV and PV segments, JLR exposure to global macros, and currency volatility
● Target price: ₹ 815 in three months
Best stocks to buy today, recommended by Raja Venkatraman of NeoTrader
ASIANTILES (current market price ₹53.10)
- Why it’s recommended: Asian Granito India Ltd. (ASIANTILES) continues to be an attractive investment option due to its strong market presence, diverse product offerings, and growth potential in the ceramic and tile industry. ACCording to the latest Q4 2025 financial update, the company reported total revenue of ₹423.63 crore, reflecting a 14.12% increase compared to the previous quarter.
- Key metrics: P/E: 43.53; 52-week high: ₹98.20; Volume: 1.60 million
- Technical analysis: Support at ₹42, resistance at ₹70.
- Risk factors: Industry competition, slow growth potential
- Buy: CMP and dips to ₹50.
- Target price: ₹59-62 in 1 month.
- Stop loss: ₹48.
PFOCUS (Current market price ₹105.22)
- Why it’s recommended: Prime Focus Ltd. (PFOCUS) is a leading player in the media and entertainment industry, offering integrated post-production services, visual effects, and digital content solutions. The prices are showing signs of bottoming out and will look to head higher as the prices have formed inverted head and shoulder formation and is looking to breakout to the upside.
- Key metrics: P/E: 15.91; 52-week high: ₹164.89; Volume: 146.13 K
- Technical analysis: Support at ₹95, resistance at ₹125.
- Risk factors: Industry competition, market volatility, elongated operating tailwind.
- Buy: CMP and dips to ₹101.
- Target price: ₹115-118 in 1 month.
- Stop loss: ₹99.
DBCORP (Current market price ₹251.20)
- Why it’s recommended: DB Corp. is showing some steady progress and the periodic higher high higher low formation is indicating that the trends are firmly hinting at some potential upside in the coming days. The strong long body candle seen on Monday with a positive crossover as per Ichimoku TS & KS lines are hinting at possible upward drift.
- Key metrics: P/E: 12.06; 52-week high: ₹403.90; Volume: 169.62 K
- Technical analysis: Support at ₹209, resistance at ₹270.
- Risk factors: Tough market conditions, drop in advertising revenues and currency fluctuations.
- Buy: CMP and dips to ₹240.
- Target price: ₹270-277 in 1 month.
- Stop loss: ₹237.
Raja Venkatraman is co-founder, NeoTrader. His Sebi-registered research analyst registration no. is INH000016223.
MarketSmith India: Trade name: William O’Neil India Pvt. Ltd; Sebi-registered research analyst registration number: INH000015543
Trade Brains Portal is a stock analysis platform. Its trade name is Dailyraven Technologies Pvt. Ltd, and its Sebi-registered research analyst registration number is INH000015729.
Investments in securities are subject to market risks. Read all the related documents carefully before investing. Registration granted by Sebi and certification from NISM in no way guarantees performance of the intermediary or provide any assurance of returns to investors.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
