10 Smart Stocks Near 1-Year Low Prices, Should You Buy Them?

It's a time in the markets when the broader markets are falling, while the indices are still managing to stay around that 58,000 levels. Here are a list of stocks that are near 1-year lows. These are high quality stocks and across market capitalizations.

Stocks near 1-year lows

Company name	Current market price	52-week lows
Nykaa (3-month low)	1400	1374
Petronet LNG	213	206
Dabur	547	497
Castrol	115	112
ICICI Lombard	1282	1274
Colgate	1410	1375
HDFC AMC	2199	2118
Britannia	3481	3317
Lupin	768	744
BPCL	373	348

Should you buy Nykaa, Petronet LNG and Dabur stocks near 52-week lows?

It is important to evaluate each of these stocks, based on their own merit. Nykaa is clearly an avoid, given that the hype around these new age tech stocks is fast unravelling. Policy Bazaar, Zomato and Paytm are all new age tech stocks very close to their 52-week lows. Nykaa continues to be overvalued and the stock could fall further.

We like Petronet LNG for its dividends and the potential going forward. After having fallen a great deal the stock is also attractive in terms of price to earnings ratio.

As far as Dabur is concerned, we believe that the stock will face input cost pressures in the coming months and hence we are neutral on the stock.

Should you buy Castrol India, ICICI Lombard and Colgate?

The pick of these stocks is Castrol India which is a strong buy. The stock is an MNC stock available at a p/e of just 12 times. Apart from this, the stock is available at a dividend yield of 4.78%. We do not like the stock of ICICI Lombard and there would be selling pressure on insurance stocks as institutions might now want to subscribe to the LIC Offer.

Colgate Palmolive India is like most FMCG companies facing cost pressures and of course intense competition. We are pretty much neutral on the stock.

Should you HDFC AMC and Britannia?

We do not advise investors to buy the stock of either Britannia or HDFC AMC. Both these stocks are highly valued thanks to their brands. We believe extra ordinary growth rates have come to pass for both these stocks. Investors can't be paying hefty p/e of 40 to 50 times, which is rather exensive when compared to Sensex p/e of 22 times. Some of these stocks are best avoided as there could be value outside.

BPCL and Lupin stocks: Should you buy?

The next big trigger for the stock of BPCL would be the government's diversification plan. Should that go through, the stock could rally. In terms of performance, with crude hovering at $90 a barrel and an embargo on price increase on petrol and diesel due to state elections, do not expect great profitability from BPCL in the next 2 quarters.

As far as Lupin is concerned price pressures from the US would continue. Apart from this the pharma industry, especially the exporters face US FDA warnings. This is one reason why performance could be highly unpredictable.

Overall, we believe that stocks that are worth a look would be Castrol India from the above list. Buy the stock for the long-term.