41 stocks gave significantly higher returns than Sensex in five years

As many as 41 stocks have given significantly higher returns for investors in the past five years compared to gains made by the benchmark indices in the same period.

Share prices of Lupin, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Asian Paints and Zee Entertainment have gone up over 300% over the past five years, tripling investors' money from 2010.

In contrast, benchmark equity indices the BSE Sensex and the Nifty have risen just 27% and 30%, respectively, in the past five years.

Overall, out of 41 stocks in the BSE 500 Index that gave higher returns than the benchmark indices, 17 stocks, including Hatsun Agro Products, Page Industries, Ajanta Pharma, Blue Dart Express, Kajaria Ceramics, La Opala RG and Eicher Motors, have fetched positive returns for investors in each of the last five calendar years.

While Ajanta Pharma shares surged over 4,600% between 2010 and 2015, stocks of La Opala RG, Kitex Garments, Eicher Motors, Kajaria Ceramics, Cera Sanitaryware, Symphony and Vakrangee have soared in the range of 1,000-4,500%.

"There is a fundamental reason why these stocks have done well over the years. Lupin and Asian Paints are considered defensive plays given the nature of their respective businesses. Zee Entertainment is from the media sector where there has been a continuous growth for the past five years," Business Standard quoted G Chokkalingam, founder and managing director of Equinomics Research & Advisory, as saying.

"Kotak Mahindra Bank, on the other hand, is one of the most efficient plays in the banking sector and has been able to manage its non-performing assets well over the past few years,"  he added.

 Analysts said the rally in these stocks was driven by a "consistent growth" in net profit and "buying interest" from foreign investors.

For example, the stock price of Ajanta Pharma has gone up 48 times from Rs 28 (adjusted to bonus and stock split) in December 2010 to Rs 1,337 in December 2015. The company saw a ninefold increase in net profit from Rs 34 crore in FY10 to Rs 315 crore in FY15. Stake held by foreign institutional investors (FII) in the company rose to 7.94% in the September 2015 quarter from just 0.02% at the end of December 2010 quarter.

"There has been a change in the way some of these companies/businesses operate over the past five years. This has positively impacted their topline and bottomline. Eicher Motors is a classic example, where the company has repositioned its motorcycle — Bullet. So, a lot of these companies found the right strategy, which eventually got translated into stock performance. As a result, these stocks became multi-baggers over the years," said A K Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital.