CRISIL Research has assigned a CRISIL IER fundamental grade of 4/5 to L&T Finance Holdings (LTFH). The grade indicates that the company’s fundamentals are ‘superior’ relative to other listed equity securities in India.

''Our fair value of the stock is Rs 65 a share. At the current market price of Rs 76 a share, our valuation grade is 2/5 indicating that the market price has downside from the current levels. The grades are not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold the graded instrument, or a comment on the graded instrument’s future market price or its suitability for a particular investor,'' said CRISIL Research.

The assigned fundamental grade reflects LTFH`s well diversified portfolio with assets under management (AUM) of Rs 378 billion within retail & corporate and infrastructure lending segments. The company also provides mutual fund and wealth management services. The growth in AUM has been superior compared to its peers with the aggressive launch of new businesses. LTFH derives a strong advantage from its parent L&T - the largest engineering and construction company in India - in terms of strong backing from parent, extensive domain experience and a strong brand equity that helps LTFH to raise resources. L&T Infrastructure Finance (LTI), the infra lending subsidiary with IFC status, is well positioned to tap opportunities in the infrastructure sector leveraging parent L&T’s expertise. The IFC status helps it to compete against banks.

Shares of the company declined Rs 2.2, or 2.82%, to trade at Rs 75.80. The total volume of shares traded was 1,121,525 at the BSE (Wednesday).