Piotroski 8/9 undemanding P/E: HDFC Bank, SBI, TCS, ITC

In 1994, [HDFC Bank](/stock/HDFCBANK) opened its first Mumbai branch with one obsession: technology should never take a day off. Three decades later, the bank belongs to a group where Piotroski 8/9 meets undemanding P/E. A FairStock screen of Nifty 50 companies shows eight large caps with F-Scores of 8/9 and one-year forward earnings multiples from 8.5 to 19.8 times. The names: HDFC Bank (NSE: HDFCBANK), SBI (NSE: SBIN), TCS (NSE: TCS), Infosys (NSE: INFY), Kotak Mahindra Bank (NSE: KOTAKBANK), Axis Bank (NSE: AXISBANK), ITC (NSE: ITC) and NTPC (NSE: NTPC). ROE spans 11.2% at NTPC to 49.8% at TCS. Piotroski's nine-point test is deliberately boring. It checks whether earnings are backed by cash flows, whether debt ratios are improving, and whether management is using capital more efficiently. An 8/9 score tells you the financial statements are getting stronger, not just prettier. That's rare in a market where many quality names trade at premium multiples. The screen: eight names with 8/9 and no stretched multiples The screen throws up an unusual mix. Four banks, two IT exporters, one consumer company, one power utility. The table below shows why the combination matters. | Company | NSE code | Piotroski F-Score | Forward P/E | ROE | FairStock Score | |---------|----------|-------------------|------------|-----|-----------------| | HDFC Bank | NSE: HDFCBANK | 8/9 | 17.2x | 16.1% | 82 | | SBI | NSE: SBIN | 8/9 | 8.5x | 19.4% | 78 | | TCS | NSE: TCS | 8/9 | 19.8x | 49.8% | 84 | | Infosys | NSE: INFY | 8/9 | 19.0x | 31.5% | 81 | | Kotak Mahindra Bank | NSE: KOTAKBANK | 8/9 | 18.3x | 13.9% | 76 | | Axis Bank | NSE: AXISBANK | 8/9 | 12.2x | 16.7% | 77 | | ITC | NSE: ITC | 8/9 | 19.6x | 27.4% | 74 | | NTPC | NSE: NTPC | 8/9 | 12.0x | 11.2% | 71 | All eight stocks score above 70 on FairStock's composite. TCS leads at 84. HDFC Bank follows at 82. That supports the idea of quality at a reasonable price, but the screen is only a starting point. Why four banks dominate this...