Shares of SRF Ltd. rose as much as 3% on Thursday, September 17, after HSBC reiterated its optimism on the stock's prospects going forward, while maintaining its "Buy" rating. The brokerage set a target price of ₹3,300 per share on SRF, implying an upside of about 33% from Wednesday's closing price of ₹2,480.10.
HSBC said India's refrigerant market could benefit from lower Chinese exports of R32. China's R32 exports declined by 17,000 tonnes during January-July 2026, according to the brokerage, providing support to Indian producers in the near term. R32 is a single-component refrigerant , which is used in air conditioning and heat pump systems.
China is the world's leading producer of the R32, with domestic production reaching 2,85,000 metric tonnes at the peak. However, HSBC flagged an 81,000-tonne capacity addition in India as a concern going into 2027, which could increase domestic supply.
The brokerage said a diversion of production quota towards R134a could partly offset the impact of excess R32 capacity. It also expects a pickup in SRF's speciality chemicals business to act as a potential catalyst for momentum. R134a is a common hydrofluorocarbon refrigerant used in automotive air conditioning, domestic refrigeration and commercial cooling systems.
Analyst consensus and stock performanceAccording to the 35 analysts who have coverage on SRF, 22 of those have a "buy" rating, five have a "hold" rating and eight others have a "sell" recommendation on the stock. The 12-month consensus price target of ₹2,935.7 implies an upside potential of over 18% from Monday's closing price.
Shares of the company gained as much as 3% on Thursday to an intraday high of ₹2,554 and were trading 2.3% up at ₹2,536.90. The stock has declined about 17% since January this year.