Tata Sons IPO demand sparks 19% rally in these 2 stocks. Which one is a better play?

The shares of Tata Chemicals and Tata Investment Corporation have rallied sharply recently, amid renewed buzz around the prospective IPO of Tata Sons, which has now received backing from some key trustees of the Tata Trusts board. Analysts, however, note that while the rally in one stock is simply sentiment-driven, the similar jump in another is more grounded.

Tata Investment Corporation shares rallied more than 19% in five days, closing at Rs 709 apiece on Monday. Tata Chemicals shares, meanwhile, gained over 12% in five days to settle at Rs 715 apiece yesterday.

Tata Sons IPO soon?

Tata Trusts trustee and former Defence Secretary Vijay Singh has called for the listing of Tata Sons on the stock exchanges through its IPO, after TVS Group’s Venu Srinivasan publicly supported the move, The Indian Express reported. Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry also backed the case for listing Tata Sons, calling it a “necessary revolution” rather than a regulatory compulsion.The sharp rally in the two Tata Group companies following renewed interest around prospective Tata Sons IPO is not new. Markets have seen similar rallies in the past as well, with the rally soon losing steam as optimism evaporated. Harshal Dasani, Business Head at INVasset PMS, noted that markets have historically priced in optionality around a potential Tata Sons IPO well ahead of any concrete announcement. “In the past too, similar speculative runs have seen sharp reversals once timelines remained uncertain,” he said.

Fundamentally, Tata Investment Corporation remains a pure play on Tata group valuations, trading at a discount or premium depending on sentiment, while Tata Chemicals is an operating business with exposure to soda ash, specialty chemicals and agri inputs, according to Dasani. “This makes the latter relatively more grounded from an earnings visibility standpoint, especially as global soda ash prices have shown signs of stabilisation after a weak FY25,” he added.

Technical view

From a technical perspective, the analyst feels that Tata Chemicals appears to be in a relatively stronger setup. “The stock has seen a more gradual accumulation pattern, with improving momentum and better support levels, indicating institutional participation rather than purely speculative flows. In contrast, Tata Investment Corporation tends to witness sharp, sentiment-driven spikes with higher volatility, making it less predictable for positional trades,” he said.Tata Chemicals offers a better risk-reward balance for investors, given its underlying business strength combined with potential upside from group-level triggers, according to Dasani. “Tata Investment Corporation, while attractive during early cycle rerating, is better suited for tactical rather than structural allocation,” he added.

What should investors do?

Jigar S. Patel, Senior Manager of Equity Technical Research at Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers, however cautioned that the sharp rally in Tata Chemicals may be losing steam now after a sharp runup. “A hidden bearish divergence is visible on the daily RSI, indicating weakening momentum despite higher prices. This suggests that the uptrend may be losing strength in the near term,” he said.

The analyst cited the Tata Chemicals’ intraday fall of nearly 8% from its intraday high of Rs 774 to its closing level. Hence, the analyst advised traders to lock in profits on any bounce. He sees immediate support near Rs 676 apiece, while resistance is placed at around Rs 774 apiece.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)