These Nifty stocks saw the sharpest earnings upgrades and downgrades post Q2 results

The September quarter (Q2FY26) earnings season wrapped up on a healthy note, with overall growth led by oil marketing companies (OMCs), telecom, metals, technology, NBFCs – lending, cement, and capital goods.

However, Oil & Gas (ex-OMCs), automobiles, dragged largely by Tata Motors, and both private and public sector banks pulled down aggregate profitability.

The Nifty delivered 2% year-on-year profit growth, undershooting expectations of 5%. This also marks the sixth consecutive quarter of single-digit earnings growth since the June 2020 pandemic quarter.

Notably, just five companies, including Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, and TCS, contributed 300% of the incremental YoY earnings accretion, offsetting weaknesses elsewhere.

In contrast, Tata Motors, ONGC, Coal India, Axis Bank, SBI, InterGlobe Aviation, Adani Enterprises, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, Eternal, Hindustan Unilever, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Tech Mahindra dragged overall earnings.

Against this backdrop, the earnings revision cycle remained active. Twelve Nifty companies saw upgrades of more than 3% in their FY26 EPS estimates, while ten recorded downgrades of over 3%.

Top 12 Nifty EPS Upgrades (over 3%)

- State Bank of India: SBI led the upgrades with a sharp 9.3% rise in FY26E EPS.

- Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC): Earnings estimates increased 7.6%.

- Hindalco Industries: Posted a 7.2% upgrade in FY26E EPS.

- Bharti Airtel: EPS estimates raised by 7.1%.

- Tata Steel: Received a 5.8% earnings upgrade.

- Asian Paints: FY26E EPS revised higher by 5.8%.

- Trent Ltd.: Recorded a 5.3% upgrade.

- Shriram Finance: Saw a 4.5% upward revision.

- HDFC Bank: EPS estimates upgraded 4.2%.

- UltraTech Cement: FY26E EPS raised 3.2%.

- Bajaj Auto: Posted a 3.0% upgrade.

- Titan Company: Earnings estimates increased 3.0%.

Top 10 Nifty EPS Downgrades (over 3%)

- Eternal: The steepest downgrade, with FY26E EPS slashed 37.9%.

- InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo): Earnings cut by 23.2%.

- Tata Motors Ltd.: Posted a major 21.6% downgrade.

- HDFC Life Insurance: EPS estimates reduced 10.7%.

- NTPC Ltd.: Saw a 9.2% downward revision.

- Coal India: FY26E EPS trimmed by 6.3%.

- Power Grid Corporation of India: Earnings cut 6.1%.

- Sun Pharmaceutical Industries: EPS lowered by 3.7%.

- Reliance Industries Ltd.: Recorded a 3.5% downgrade.

- SBI Life Insurance: EPS reduced by 3.0%.