Aarti Industries, SRF: Key reasons why PhillipCapital has upgraded chemical stocks

Chemical stocks BSE NSE: The specialty chemicals segment is certainly not in its heyday. In the recently concluded December-ended quarter of FY24 (Q3 FY24), the companies in the space posted a mixed set of numbers. Some of the headwinds that the industry is facing are a decline in demand across end customers and export woes amid the Red Sea crisis.

Nevertheless, domestic brokerage PhillipCapital sees the sector as having hit its bottom. The brokerage mentions that the segment has been witnessing increasing demand sequentially. Besides, there are expectations that the prices will remain steady.

The brokerage maintains that the export segments of Aarti Industries, SRF, and Vinati Organics have witnessed a recovery.

As regards Aarti Industries, the brokerage has upgraded the stock to a ‘buy’ as the company has signed long-term contracts, while at the same time, it has also seen improvements in exports.

"Considering the visible sequential improvement, recovery in industry demand and multiple supply contracts signed recently, the brokerage upgraded its rating on the stock to BUY from Neutral by rolling forward its valuations to FY26 from Sept’25 and value the stock at Rs 760,' added the brokerage.

Secondly, the brokerage is bullish on SRF, given the resilience in the specialty chemical space as well as the recovery in demand for refrigerant gas in the US market. Furthermore, the company’s capex execution has also been robust.

For Atul Ltd., the brokerage maintained that life sciences has seen demand recovery at a robust pace of 40 per cent sequentially.