Piotroski F-Score 8/9 India Large Caps at Low P/E

In the summer of 2000, a University of Chicago accounting professor named Joseph Piotroski published a simple scoring system to separate value stocks with real earnings power from those headed for the graveyard. He would have liked this NSE screen. Eight large caps now carry a Piotroski F-Score of 8/9, meaning they passed all but one of his nine checks on profitability, borrowing, liquidity and operating efficiency. The list includes [TCS](/stock/TCS) (NSE: TCS), [Infosys](/stock/INFY) (NSE: INFY), [HDFC Bank](/stock/HDFCBANK) (NSE: HDFCBANK), SBI (NSE: SBIN), Kotak Bank (NSE: KOTAKBANK), Axis Bank (NSE: AXISBANK), ITC (NSE: ITC) and [NTPC](/stock/NTPC) (NSE: NTPC). That combination of quality checks and low earnings multiples is what quality-at-a-price screens look for. The screen matters because large caps usually trade at premiums. When they don't, something has gone quiet or wrong. [NTPC](/stock/NTPC) (NSE: NTPC) trades at 10.39 times trailing earnings, a multiple you would normally associate with a slow-growing utility, not a company that supplies nearly a fifth of India's electricity. Yet NTPC's Piotroski score of 8/9 says its balance sheet and cash conversion have improved enough to pass almost every check. That is the tension: the market sees a regulated power producer, while the score sees a company that has stopped bleeding on receivables and is turning operating profit into cash. The same tension runs through the banks. [HDFC Bank](/stock/HDFCBANK) (NSE: HDFCBANK) has a FairStock Score above 70 and a deposit franchise built since 1994, when it opened its first branch in Mumbai with an obsession for retail banking. SBI's roots go back to 1806 and the Bank of Calcutta, but the market still prices it like a utility with state ownership. Kotak Bank (NSE: KOTAKBANK) and Axis Bank (NSE: AXISBANK) round out the private names. All four banks pass the Piotroski profitability and asset quality hurdles, even as deposit competition squeezes net interest margins. SB...