Piotroski 8/9 screen flags quality Indian stocks at low P/E

Data from FairStock.ai's India fundamental scanner puts eight NSE-listed companies at a Piotroski F-Score of 8 out of 9: [HDFC Bank](/stock/HDFCBANK) (NSE: HDFCBANK), [State Bank of India](/stock/SBIN) (NSE: SBIN), [TCS](/stock/TCS) (NSE: TCS), [Infosys](/stock/INFY) (NSE: INFY), [Kotak Mahindra Bank](/stock/KOTAKBANK) (NSE: KOTAKBANK), [Axis Bank](/stock/AXISBANK) (NSE: AXISBANK), [ITC](/stock/ITC) (NSE: ITC), and [NTPC](/stock/NTPC) (NSE: NTPC). The nine-point F-Score checks return on assets, operating cash flow, change in return on assets, accruals, long-term debt changes, current ratio, share issuance, gross margin, and asset turnover. Eight of nine means a company missed only one positive signal. That's a strong trailing print. It says nothing about forward revisions. The group trades between 10.4 and 19.2 times trailing earnings. NTPC and SBI anchor the lower half. TCS and Infosys sit near 19 times. The Nifty 50 has traded near 20 times forward earnings in recent sessions, so the discount for this group is modest but visible. Elevated US Treasury yields near 4.5% have kept foreign portfolio inflows stop-start, which adds a global liquidity question to an otherwise domestic earnings story. Banks dominate the quality-value intersection Four lenders make the list. Their F-Score readings reflect lower stressed assets and better return on assets after the provisioning cycle of 2018-2021. [HDFC Bank](/stock/HDFCBANK) (NSE: HDFCBANK) and [Kotak Mahindra Bank](/stock/KOTAKBANK) (NSE: KOTAKBANK) have long traded at premium multiples for deposit quality and cost control. [Axis Bank](/stock/AXISBANK) (NSE: AXISBANK) shows improving credit costs and a cleaner corporate book. [State Bank of India](/stock/SBIN) (NSE: SBIN) has moved into higher return on assets after years of heavy provisioning. But the F-Score is backward-looking. It won't show if net interest margins have peaked or if deposit costs tighten in the next two quarters. System credit growth has stayed in m...