The Street resets its Nifty 500 bets. Here are the winners

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Expectations of stronger earnings, reasonable valuations and resilient domestic demand are lifting analyst confidence in Indian equities, with insurers, hotels, healthcare and real estate emerging as some of the Street’s preferred bets.

A Mint analysis of Bloomberg data showed that buy calls accounted for nearly 70% of the 8,533 analyst recommendations on Nifty 500 companies as of 21 July, up from 66.1% (of 8,098 recommendations) at the end of December 2025.

Over the same period, the share of hold ratings declined to 17.3% from 19%, while sell calls fell to 13.1% from 14.9%, indicating a broader improvement in analyst sentiment.

In absolute terms, the number of buy recommendations increased by 586 to 5,938. Hold calls declined by 63 to 1,477, while sell recommendations fell by 88 to 1,118.

“The optimism partly reflects the underperformance of Indian equities relative to other emerging markets and the US, along with a moderation in valuations,” according to Yudhajit Baul, founder of Yudhajit Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.

“Indian equities have underperformed other emerging markets and US equities for nearly 18 months. The market’s trailing price-to-earnings ratio of around 20.65 times is below its 10-year average of 23.4 times, supporting expectations of an improvement in earnings momentum,” he added.

Life insurance recorded one of the sharpest increases in analyst conviction. Buy calls across nine stocks increased to 214 from 169, lifting their share to 93% from 82%. At the same time, sell recommendations declined to three from nine.

Hotels remained another Street favourite. Their buy share increased to 90.8% from 85.9%, while the sell ratio fell to 0.8% from 3.5%. The segment comprised six companies in July, compared with five in December

Healthcare facilities received 87% or 141 buy calls out of 162 recommendations on 21 July, compared with 83% at the end of December.

Real estate also gained favour. Buy recommendations increased to 152 from 143, while sell calls declined to seven from 16. Consequently, the sector’s buy share rose to 84.4% from 82.2%, while its sell share more than halved to 3.9% from 9.2%.

Baul said the long-term opportunity in life insurance and asset management remained substantial because their penetration in India was below global averages. Rising disposable incomes could also support spending on premium housing and healthcare services, he added.

Pratyush Pandey, founder of AARE Consulting, said the optimism around life insurance, asset management, healthcare and real estate reflected improving earnings visibility, domestic demand and favourable structural trends rather than merely short-term momentum.

“In real estate, sustained residential demand, rising commercial leasing and continued infrastructure investment support long-term growth. However, valuations have become demanding in some pockets, making stock selection increasingly important,” he added.

Asset managers recorded a particularly strong increase in conviction. Their buy share rose to 81.9% from 71.3%, although the number of companies covered declined to seven from eight. Auto-parts manufacturers also saw their buy share rise to 81.1% from 71.3%.

Banks registered a more moderate improvement. Their buy share increased to 74.1% from 70.3%, even as the number of banks represented in the data declined to 22 from 26.

The bullishness was also evident at the company level. SBI Life Insurance, Max Financial Services, DLF, Kalpataru Projects International, Aadhar Housing Finance and Leela Palaces Hotels & Resorts received only buy calls, with no hold or sell recommendations.

Rainbow Children’s Medicare, Power Finance Corp., Aditya Birla Capital and Ather Energy also had unanimous buy ratings. The list spans financial services, housing, infrastructure, hospitality, healthcare and electric mobility, illustrating the breadth of analysts’ preferred opportunit...