Chris Wood adds AU Small Finance Bank to Jefferies’ India portfolio, removes CAMS

Renowned investment strategist Christopher Wood of Jefferies has initiated investment in AU Small Finance, assigning it a 3% weightage, and has removed CAMS (Computer Age Management Services) from his portfolio, revealed the latest GREED & Fear note. As a result, the lending sector’s weighting in the portfolio has jumped to 35%. Last month, Chris Wood added Zomato to his three long-only portfolios and SBI Life Insurance to one. Further, he removed HDFC Life and Standard Chartered, and reduced investments in JD.com and Alibaba.

Computer Age Management Services’ (CAMS) removal from Chris Wood’s portfolio came just after a week when he mentioned in his note that India’s asset management story is the most promising domestic asset management story globally. “It might seem odd to remove Computer Age Management Services which is such a long-term play on the development of the asset management industry,” he said. “Still, GREED & fear has discovered this week that the mutual fund industry faces regulatory headwinds which, if implemented, will increasingly damage the profits of what is a clear success story,” Christopher Wood added.

The shares of AU Small Finance Bank rose 0.66% to Rs 774.6 today. In Q4FY23, the lender’s net profit rose 23% on-year to Rs 425 crore backed by a 37% higher net interest income. Its total income rose 34% to Rs 9,240 crore. NII for the quarter stood at Rs 4,425 crore. Meanwhile, Computer Age Management Services (CAMS) reported a 2.3% on-year rise in its consolidated revenue to Rs 249.2 crore in the March quarter and a 0.7% on-year rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 74.36 crore against Rs 73.84 crore in Q4FY22. CAMS, the registrar and transfer agent for mutual funds, also declared a final dividend of Rs 12 per equity share. Today, CAMS shares fell 1.10% to Rs 2,202.75.