Lokesh Garg Kotak Securities
The buy side says: “He provides good analysis and always keeps a check on valuations.”
A series of ratings downgrades helps propel Lokesh Garg to the winner’s circle. The Kotak Securities analyst, who garners praise from clients for his “knowledge of the industry” and “independent opinions,” lowered Bharat Heavy Electricals from buy to sell in July 2010, at 2,430.62 rupees, on stiff competition from Chinese imports. By the end of May, shares of the New Delhi–based manufacturer of power-plant equipment had slid 20.1 percent, to Rs1,943.15. Garg downgraded Chennai’s BGR Energy Systems from buy to sell in January, at Rs636.35, partly because of sluggish order flows. The engineering-equipment maker’s shares tumbled 23.1 percent, to Rs489.25, and trailed the sector by 19.4 percentage points, through May. The 33-year-old researcher, who earned an MBA at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad in 2002, joined Kotak in 2005 from ICICI Bank.