If Bloomberg’s average analyst ratings for stocks from the BSE 500 index are any indication, telecom, hotels, media, power equipment, logistics and aviation are seen as laggards over the next 12 months with a majority of analysts having a sell call on stocks from these sectors. While the opinion on the Street seems to be divided on financials, IT, cement and FMCG, there appears an unanimous consensus that pharmaceuticals and textiles will be good bets in the year ahead.

The outlook for telecom has turned bearish as competition has intensified in the GSM space with the entry of Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications (Rcom), Uninor and the foray of MTS (Sistema Shyam Teleservices) in the Mumbai circle.

The following tables show the highest and lowest average analyst ratings for stocks in the BSE 500 index as of January 6. Bloomberg assigns a number to each rating that ranges from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest recommendation. To calculate the average, these numbers are added together and the total is divided by how many recommendations were made during the past 12 months. The target price is the average of analysts’ 12 months predicted price. Only companies that have at least three analyst ratings are included.

Note: Price as on Jan 6, 2010; *12 month price target for the year; **One-year returns, calculated from Jan 6, 2009 to Jan 6, 2010 except for NHPC.

In the case of hotels, Ashish Jagnani of Citigroup Global expects occupancies and ARRs to remain under pressure over the next couple of years. Citi believes average occupancies will decline to 62 per cent in the current fiscal, before recovering to 65 per cent in the next fiscal, while ARRs will decline 6 per cent in the current fiscal and 1 per cent in FY11. Following the 113 per cent return in the last one year, analysts now have a sell rating on Indian Hotels with a target price of Rs 74. “It is possibly weighed down by fears of leverage/losses in its international portfolio,” feels Manav Vijay of Edelweiss.

Though the BSE Healthcare index has doubled from its lows, analysts are overweight on the sector on the back of strong growth prospects for generics manufacturers, increasing outsourcing by multinationals to India and increasing growth traction in the domestic market. “Though large-cap players will trade at a premium, mid-caps would provide a huge upside, in our view. Aurobindo Pharma, Jubilant Organosys, Dr Reddy’s Labs (DRL), Glenmark and Ipca Labs are our top picks,” says Sriram Rathi of Centrum.

Interestingly, the much-batted textiles sector gets a thumbs-up from analysts. Share prices of majority of textile companies had crashed to new lows last fiscal as the global recession resulted in a drop in exports of yarn and realisation took a knock. In the past six months, demand for cotton yarn in domestic as well as export market is robust and realisations have gone up sharply. Analysts are bullish on Alok Industries. “Over the past few years, Alok has been on an expansion spree resulting in an increase in capacities in almost all its divisions. Post-expansion of approximately Rs 400 crore, Alok is expected to become one of the largest textile manufacturers of the country,” says Bhavika Shah of Sushil Finance, which has a buy rating on the stock.