9 hidden gems Peter Lynch would pick today

Peter Lynch, the legendary former manager of the Fidelity Magellan Fund, wasn't one for chasing fads or overhyped stocks. He believed in investing in companies you can understand—businesses with solid earnings growth, strong balance sheets, reasonable valuations and often those hiding in plain sight with little institutional interest. Inspired by his philosophy, we ran a screen using Value Research's stock screener to capture companies that reflect the Lynch style. Our filters included: Market cap >Rs 500 crore Debt-to-equity 1 for financial prudence ROE >15 per cent for capital efficiency Five-year EPS growth between 15-30 per cent Institutional holding 30 per cent to spot off-the-radar stocks P/E 15 Inventory growth 1.2 times revenue growth for operational discipline This narrowed the list to 16 names, from which we retained 9 stocks rated four or five on our Stock Ratings. Below, we spotlight two of them and explain how they check the boxes of a classic Peter Lynch stock. Company Market cap (Rs cr) Stock Rating Debt-to-equity (times) ROE (%) 5-year EPS growth (%) Institutional stake (%) Nava 13443 5 0.1 19.4 29.9 9.9 J&K Bank 10601 4 0.3 18.1 29.8 14.3 Bhansali Polymers 2624 5 0.0 18.0 21.9 1.6 IIFL Capital Services 7067 4 0.7 32.9 27.6 23.3 LG Balakrishnan 3