Gujarat Ambuja Cements: Hold.

In the last six months, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and its group companies have turned aggressive in pursuit of market share. In an industry where consolidation got a big push last year, this is an important development for the company. Though prices have been the casualty, the approach may pay off in the medium-to-long term, says S.Vaidya Nathan.

THE Gujarat Ambuja Cement stock has not performed too well in the last couple of years, and is down to Rs 200 from around Rs 240 a month ago. Much of the attention as far as the cement sector is concerned, has been showered on ACC, with whom the Ambuja group has a 'strategic alliance'. Institutional investors, which fancied the ACC stock some years ago, are now lukewarm to it. Not perhaps for any operational reasons, but because ACC presents a bigger opportunity for gains. Unlike ACC, there are not too many company-specific factors to lift the valuation of the Gujarat Ambuja stock.

However, from a …