Buy, Sell or Hold: Nuvama bet on Prestige Estates & Brigade Enterprises; Motilal recommends ICICI & HDFC Bank among top picks

Brokerage insights from Nuvama and Motilal Oswal point to a selective but constructive stance on India’s key cyclical sectors—real estate and financials.While the property market is navigating softer sales and a slowdown in new launches, healthy inventory levels are supporting price hikes, keeping well-positioned developers in focus.At the same time, the financials space is seeing a reset in unsecured lending and credit growth, with PSU banks gaining share in MSME loans and large private banks tightening risk controls.In this evolving environment, both brokerages are backing market leaders with strong balance sheets and execution capabilities, with Prestige and Brigade emerging as preferred real estate plays, and HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI and AU Bank standing out as top picks in financials.We have collated a list of recommendations from top brokerage firms from ETNow and other sources:Nuvama on real estate: Prestige and Brigade top picksAccording to Nuvama, the Indian real estate market showed mixed trends in November 2025. Housing sales declined marginally by 2% year-on-year and remained flat on a month-on-month basis.While sales volumes improved by 3% compared with the previous month, they were still down 4% on a yearly basis. New project launches saw a sharper slowdown, with launch values falling 31% year-on-year and 22% month-on-month during the month.On a year-to-date basis for calendar year 2025, sales value has grown by 6% year-on-year, even as launches declined 4%. However, both sales and launch volumes are down 12% and 11% year-on-year, respectively.Despite these trends, unsold inventory levels remain comfortable at around 18 months, providing developers with sufficient pricing power to continue raising prices.Within the sector, Nuvama’s top picks remain Prestige Group and Brigade Enterprises.Motilal Oswal on financials: HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank top picksAccording to Motilal Oswal, PSU banks have emerged as a dominant force in MSME lending, gaining market share over the past six to nine months, which has significantly narrowed the cost gap with private sector banks.Unsecured business lending is currently undergoing a reset, with growth moderating to around 10–20% compared with the 30–40% growth seen in earlier years.Despite a sharp correction in pricing, demand in this segment has not revived meaningfully. Collection intensity in unsecured MSME loans has increased, leading to higher recovery costs and more tactical behaviour from borrowers. In the credit card segment, growth remains subdued, with issuances continuing to be selective.While early stress indicators are showing signs of stabilisation, delinquency levels remain elevated compared with historical norms.Large private banks continue to dominate incremental sourcing, with their focus shifting towards improving spend quality, customer activation and offering more pre-approved or secured card products.Motilal Oswal’s top picks in the financials space are HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and AU Bank.Also read: Analysts see 40% upside in Leela Palaces stock on expansion plans, growing travel demand(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)