Indian markets have been under pressure in recent weeks, but strategist Matt Orton remains bullish on the country, revealing “one of his favorite” stocks right now. “India has been my most overweight country and that still remains the fact outside of the U.S.,” the chief market strategist at asset management firm Raymond James Investment Management told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Nov. 18. Orton’s comments come after a tricky time for India’s stocks, with the benchmark Nifty 50 index and the BSE Sensex index — which represents 30 of the country’s largest and most traded firms on the Bombay Stock Exchange — both down around 5% over the last month. Despite these falls, however, Orton says he is “still optimistic on the Indian growth story going forward.” ICIC Bank One stock that stands out to Orton is private bank and financial services player ICICI Bank . “ICICI Bank is one of my favorite picks because it’s just a top-quality asset. I call it a premium asset in the market,” he said. Shares in the bank trade on India’s National and Bombay Stock Exchanges, as well as an American Depositary Receipt in the U.S. under the ticker IBN . Its shares have been on the decline since the end of last month, but remain up over 25% year-to-date and are currently trading at around 19 times forward earnings. ICICIBANK-IN YTD mountain Year-to-date shares in ICICI Bank ICICI is among the three “domestic systemically important banks,” or those considered ” too big to fail ” banks by the Reserve Bank of India. Orton also likes its private wealth segment “which benefits from the overall equity markets” “To me, [it] is just a prime investment candidate that I think on weakness makes a lot of sense to continue to accumulate because I think it is a best-in-class financial and among all of the private banks in India,” he added. The Mumbai-based lending giant reported a 14.5% jump in net profit for its September quarter on the back of higher net interest income and loan growth. And Orton is not alone in his bullish stance on ICICI The bank is “in a league of its own,” Jefferies’ analysts said in an Oct. 27 note, also naming it as one of their top picks. According to FactSet data, of 44 analysts covering the stock, 41 give it a buy or overweight rating, while the remaining three have a hold call. Their average price target is 1,479 Indian rupees ($14.87), giving it around 18% potential upside.
