Top stocks to buy for long term: Bharti Airtel, Kotak Bank, Eternal among 9 shares experts suggest - Check target price

Top stocks to buy for the long term: The lingering concerns over West Asian conflict, volatile crude oil prices, rising US bond yields, and sustained selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remain key risks. However, the market correction has improved valuation comfort in select pockets, creating opportunities for investors with a disciplined, earnings-led approach.

According to Uttam Kumar Srimal, Deputy Head - Fundamental Research, Axis Direct, while domestic fundamentals remain a key source of market resilience, Q2FY27 earnings and management commentary will be the key market drivers.

"Investors should focus on revenue growth, margin trends, pricing power, order-book visibility and management guidance for the second half of the financial year 2026-27 (H2FY27). While elevated energy and freight costs may constrain profitability in some sectors, companies demonstrating earnings resilience, strong balance sheets and consistent execution are better positioned to navigate the current environment," said Srimal.

Vinit Bolinjkar, the head of research at Ventura, is positive on Indian equities over the next 2–3 years, supported by rising incomes, premiumisation, financialisation, healthcare demand and manufacturing localisation.

"Near-term volatility may persist due to valuations, global uncertainty and commodity prices, but companies delivering visible earnings growth and improving return ratios should outperform. Consumer durables, healthcare, select financials and speciality manufacturing remain preferred structural themes," said Bolinjkar.

Srimal said Kotak Mahindra Bank remains well-positioned to deliver nearly 17% loan CAGR over FY26–29E, supported by continued strength in secured lending, calibrated scaling-up of unsecured businesses and the Deutsche Bank India retail acquisition.

Improving asset quality should keep credit costs well contained, while healthy fee income, operating leverage and stable margins driven by granular liability mobilisation support a sustainable 2%+ RoA over the medium term.

The ongoing MD & CEO transition remains a key monitorable, though management expects a seamless succession process, said Srimal.

Srimal said strong subscriber gains and ARPU momentum are a key positive for the stock.

Bharti Airtel continues to focus on its transport network by expanding cable capacity, connecting data centres, and expanding its existing 139,000 km optical fibre backbone.

The company is integrating agentic AI platforms to enhance speed, safety, privacy, and cost-efficiency.

"We maintain our buy rating on the stock, driven by the company's superior margins, impressive subscriber growth, and increased 4G conversions," said Srimal.

Srimal pointed out that the management believes growth and profitability can continue to improve together, as growth is being driven by better products rather than higher customer acquisition spending.

"We maintain our buy rating on Eternal stock, driven by the company’s transition to adjusted EBITDA positive in key verticals, strong scalability potential, and continued expansion into adjacent consumption categories," said Srimal.

Srimal underscored that LG Electronics India's management remains optimistic about FY27, guiding to mid-teen revenue growth and early double-digit EBITDA margins.

Demand momentum across home appliances and home entertainment is expected to stay healthy throughout the fiscal year. Televisions and washing machines are projected to be key growth drivers in H2FY27, driven by aggressive festive-season demand and event-led buying.

Srimal said APL Apollo Tubes' management highlighted war-driven global disruptions and near-term headwinds for the sector, such as a steel price increase (HRC up nearly ₹3,000/ton), which has led to channel destocking and energy/gas/labour shortages.

As a result, the earlier 20% YoY volume growth guidance for FY27 was revised towards the lower end of 15-20% (at risk in the near term).

Management emphasised that margin guidance is more reliable than volume guidance in current conditions and maintained its EBITDA/t guidance at ₹5,000-5,500/t. FY27 EBITDA growth guidance is 20-25%, and PAT growth will be 25-30% YoY, said Srimal.

Bolinjkar said LG combines category leadership with strong exposure to premiumisation and low appliance penetration.

The ₹5,000 crore Sri City expansion, higher localisation, exports and B2B growth should support margin expansion.

"Revenue, EBITDA and PAT are expected to grow at 13.3%, 22.8% and 21.5% CAGR, respectively, over FY26–FY29E," said Bolinjkar.

According to Bolinjkar, Park’s investment case is driven by rapid bed additions, healthy occupancy and low capex per bed.

"Capacity expansion, improving ARPOB, hospital maturation and better speciality mix are expected to drive revenue, EBITDA and PAT CAGR of 26.8%, 28.8% and 33.4% over FY26–FY29E," said Bolinjkar.

According to Bolinjkar, Sammaan Capital is emerging from a prolonged balance-sheet clean-up, supported by IHC’s ₹8,850 crore capital infusion, AA+ rating upgrades and lower funding costs.

"AUM is expected to grow from ₹53,160 crore in FY26 to ₹1,27,880 crore by FY29E, while PAT is projected to recover to ₹3,706 crore," said Bolinjkar.

According to Bolinjkar, Dr. Agarwals Health Care is well positioned to benefit from the shift towards organised eye care.

"Its expanding hub-and-spoke network, higher surgical volumes and increasing share of complex procedures should improve utilisation and operating leverage. Revenue and EBITDA are expected to grow at about 21% and 22% CAGR over FY26–FY29E," said Bolinjkar.

Bolinjkar said Vipul Organics' growth is being driven by the Sayakha capacity expansion, a shift towards higher-value speciality chemicals and the AdiMem water-filtration business.

"Revenue is expected to grow from ₹175 crore in FY26 to ₹453 crore by FY29E, with EBITDA margin improving from 9.8% to 13.9%," said Bolinjkar.

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