A performance study of 148 shares recommended across 40 brokerages revealed that only 37% delivered positive gains, even though 53.4% beat the Sensex benchmark during its 11.7% drop. Severe drawdowns impacted the portfolio, with 45 stocks plunging by more than 25%, heavily outnumbering the 23 stocks that gained over 25%. Sector outcomes diverged widely, as consumer durables fell by a median of 32% while power stocks achieved a median gain of 10%. Moving into the Diwali 2026 season, brokerages are increasingly pivoting toward established large-cap names like Eternal and ICICI Bank.
Key points
Beating an overall market index does not prevent significant portfolio capital erosion du…: Beating an overall market index does not prevent significant portfolio capital erosion during major market drops.
Sector selection proved critical, as power shares posted gains while consumer durables su…: Sector selection proved critical, as power shares posted gains while consumer durables suffered massive median losses.
Brokerages are shifting future festive picks toward safer, familiar large-cap equities su…: Brokerages are shifting future festive picks toward safer, familiar large-cap equities such as Eternal and Titan.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
As Diwali lights begin to come on, brokerages are once again rolling out their stock pick ritual, promising to brighten investors’ portfolios. But how many of last year’s festive bets actually lit them up? Not many, it turns out. Nearly two-thirds lost value, with almost a third shedding more than 25%. Yet, interestingly, more than half still managed to beat the Sensex, shows a Mint analysis.
In the analysis, of the 148 stocks recommended by 40 brokerages for Diwali 2025 shows that nearly 63% declined from last Diwali till date (20 October 2025 and 30 October 2026). Yet 53.4%, outperformed the Sensex, which fell 11.7% over the period. Almost a third of the picks lost more than a quarter of their value.
Sandip Jha, chief product officer at Godrej Wealth outlines that outperformance is useful information, it should never be used to explain away a loss.
Jha said recommendations should be assessed on absolute returns, performance against a relevant benchmark over the same period, and the risk taken. Investors must also distinguish between a sound business undergoing a valuation correction,…
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