Contrarian Stock Picks for 2026: Citi highlights five names for up to 40% upside

Brokerage firm Citi has listed five stocks, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Ltd., Jubilant Foodworks Ltd., Voltas Ltd., Lupin Ltd., and HPCL as their five "contrarian" stock picks for 2026. The brokerage expects a potential upside of up to 40% for these picks.

For 2026, Citi remains "overweight" on banks, telecom stocks, autos, healthcare and defence, while it remains "underweight" on IT services, consumer staples and metals.

Here's a look at Citi's five contrarian picks:

ICICI Prudential Life

The stock's weak performance in the first nine months of calendar year 2025 was led by a sharp slowdown in growth and investor concerns over sustained margin repricing, according to Citi. The brokerage said that growth haws started to revive from October as the base has normalized.

The company has also taken efforts to diversify its product portfolio. Citi has ruled out any possibility of any adverse margin or variance surprises in the second half of the financial year.

Citi's price target of ₹870 on the stock implies a potential upside of 40% from current levels.

Jubilant Foodworks

While Citi expects the company's near-term earnings to remain volatile due to a slowdown in discretionary spending and high operating leverage in the QSR business, it expects the segment to be the biggest beneficiary of any uptick in medium-term spending and consumer sentiment.

Jubilant Foodworks has taken multiple initiatives from delivery fee waiver to 20 minute delivery to drive industry leading performance, Citi said, adding that the stock should continue to outperform its peers in Like-for-Like terms and the resultant margin expansion.

"Increase in the pace of store expansion for Popeyes in the medium-term can aid higher growth and drive further re-rating," Citi's note said.

Citi's price target of ₹800 on Jubilant Foodworks implies a potential upside of 37% from current levels.

HPCL

HPCL's robust earnings momentum, sustained government support and attractive dividend yields drives Citi's optimistic stance on the oil marketing company. The brokerage also expects minimal impact on India's OMCs from the new US sanctions on Russian oil producers.

"We are, however, wary of fiscal slippage risks for the government, which could range from ₹35,000 crore to ₹60,000 crore for financial year 2026, which raises the possibility of the government considering an excise duty increase for petrol and diesel," Citi's note stated.

The brokerage has a price target of ₹595 on HPCL, which implies a potential upside of 33% from Tuesday's close.

Lupin

Citi's only preference among the US generic-heavy names in their coverage, Lupin is executing well on complex generics and the biosimilar pipeline. It expects existing big products like Mirabegron are expected to continue in financial year 2027, while providing support to margins.

"In India, the company looks well placed to capture the genetic GLP-1 opportunity, thanks to its strong presence in the cardiovascular segment," Citi wrote.

Lupin's price target of ₹2,280 implies a 10% potential upside from Tuesday's close.

Voltas

The company reported weak revenue growth in the UCP segment during the first half of the year, led by weak seasonality, higher channel inventory and deferment of purchases on the back of GST rate rationalization, as per Citi.

Sustained market share improvement as seen in the last two quarters and improving margins will be key to Voltas' re-rating, according to Citi.

The brokerage has a price target of ₹1,775 on Voltas, which implies a potential upside of 33% from current levels.