Best defence stocks to buy: HAL, BEL, Azad among ICICI Securities’ top picks ahead of Q2 2026 results
Hindustan Aeronautics secured new business in a defence development for Q2 FY27.
· LiveMint Markets
ICICI Securities expects private defence firms to post stronger Q2 FY27 growth than most PSUs, led by Zen Technologies, Solar Industries India and Azad Engineering. PSU results could be mixed, with delayed Tejas Mk-1A deliveries weighing on HAL and BDL facing declines.
Key facts
- Period
- Q2 FY27
The analysis
Against that, the stock is +0.2% on the day at ₹4,655.60, and has returned +6.3% over three months. It sits 9% below its 52-week high. The defence & aerospace sector has moved -0.1% over the same period, so Hindustan Aeronautics is running 6.4 points ahead of its peers.
With Hindustan Aeronautics, ICICI Bank and Zen Technologies all implicated, this reads as a Defence & Aerospace-level move rather than a company-specific one, which is the more durable kind of signal.
Why it matters
- Defence orders carry long execution tails and policy tailwinds, which the market values for their visibility.
- Earnings versus expectations is what actually re-rates a stock; the surprise matters more than the absolute number.
- The shift to renewables is redrawing which energy names are structural winners versus stranded.
Market context
- It touches several names at once (HAL, ICICIBANK, ZENTEC, SOLARINDS), which points to a sector-level rather than company-specific driver.
- Sector exposure: Defence & Aerospace, Banks.
- The immediate tone of coverage reads negative.
In this story
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