Picking stocks involves a lot of number crunching. In some cases, your choices may get even better when you add your own experience of product crunching. If you are female, there's a high likelihood that you are accustomed to exercising regular judgments on many of the products out there on shopshelves. The good news is that there are several companies listed on Indian stock exchanges that sell products mostly to women, and this places you at a special advantage in assessing whether these companies are getting something right, or not. This is not to say that this is a surefire way of making investments. A stock's destiny is influenced by several other factors, especially in high-regulation markets. But it is a fine way of developing a close ground-level interest in a company, and it sure helps when it comes to understanding its financial performance. So here we present five stocks of companies that sell products mostly to women.

P&G Hygiene & Health Care

The company's strong point is the sanitary napkin brand Whisper, which, having dispensed with all shyness in its advertising, remains an 'attitude leader' in this market. The company also sells Vicks, which retains its clear position as a cough-n-cold relief, and does contract manufacturing for P&G Home Products, a group company.

For the year ended June 2004, P&G Hygiene and Health Care registered a 51 per cent jump in revenue, and is expected to keep up a high pace. "Because of the rising disposable income, increased awareness and also a recent cut in prices by P&G, the female hygiene segment is expected to grow further," says Nirjhar Handa, FMCG analyst at Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services. The company is test marketing lower-priced napkins too, to expand usage into households that still use home-made napkins (a vast portion of India). Deeper product penetration, according to Vinay Paharia, Manager (Research) at krchoksey Shares and Securities, could do wonders to the stock. As of now, this debt-free company is giving an impressive tax-free dividend of Rs 20 per share.

Dabur India

Another fast-growth FMCG company, it boasts of several popular herbal brands and sub-brands that are under minimal threat from foreign firms: Dabur, Vatika, Anmol, Hajmola and Real. "And the de-merger of the pharmaceutical business will help Dabur India focus on its FMCG business," says Chaitanya Choksi, Analyst at IL&FS Investsmart. While the herbal products face only mild competition, Dabur is up against major forces in the haircare and skincare categories, where its products are aimed at the female consumer (fairness creams, for instance). With its e-sourcing initiative and tax-reduction strategies (moving units to tax-free zones), its bottomline is expected to improve further.

Marico Industries

Another fmcg company that's doing well, with Parachute and Saffola as its star brands. Marico boasts of high figures for return on capital employed and on net worth (32 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively, for the year ending March 2004). Again, with a portfolio of products that are not in direct rivalry with MNC offerings, Marico has been expanding overseas; it sells in 18 countries, contributing a tenth of turnover.

Also interesting are the company's new ventures. Kaya Skin Clinic is a skincare service chain that is also attracting men, according to Paharia. Then there's Sundari, a recently-acquired US-based range of Ayurvedic skincare products.

JL Morison (India)

Listed as a B-group stock, this is less liquid and perhaps more risky a bet. Though the company's turnover is low, it owns a dependable brand in Nivea, which retains strong appeal as a skincare specialist. Though the company has not escaped the recent years' sluggishness in the FMCG sector (sales rose just 2 per cent last year), it has done a decent job of cost management (net profit rose by 19 per cent). The first quarter's showing this year hints of a revival. Dividends have been consistent at 25 per cent for the last four years, and the share is selling at quite a bargain, going by the low price-to-earnings (p-e) multiple.

Fem Care Pharma

Another small, single-brand, B-group company that sells an interesting assortment of niche products. Fem has played pioneer in several niches-all broadly in the skin and personal care market. Famous for its liquid soaps, skin lotions and bleaches, the company has just emerged from losses into profits. This, and the prospect of competition from big companies, makes this stock somewhat riskier than others. The decision, of course, is yours. In the first quarter of this year, Fem's revenues are up 18 per cent, and the company has declared an interim dividend-after a five-year gap-of 25 per cent for the year 2004-05.

Risk Pays
Risk, used well, is not a four-lettered word.

By Shilpa Nayak

Human evolution deserves the blame. For the perpetuation of the species, it devised a biological difference of gender. It gave males the go-ahead on risk, while reserving for females the most admonishing glower known in XX-chromoland.

Or so says a popular theory that goes to the zygotic origins of human existence to explain observable behaviour in the real world. Men, by nature, don't get pregnant. But women, by nature, bear babies-so they are less inclined towards taking risk. Wait-hold that clench awhile. This, say researchers, has been the case down the ages, long before television dinners.

While men braved whirlwinds and wild scuffles to do what they're gender-programmed for, which is maximising the chance of their genes' transmission via multiple low-worry liaisons, women tried to meet the same strategic objective of genetic immortality by being extremely choosy-and thus cautious-about who they let give them a prolonged encumbrance (of at least nine months).

That's how it all started. And as human life grew more complex, this gender-derived attitude found expression in more and more spheres of activity. Men played roulette, women baked cakes. Men went to the moon, women sighed at it from balconeys. Men went skydiving, women... hey, wait-a-minute, what's that up there?

Biology Is Not Destiny

All that baby logic might be fine for baby making, strictly (if even that). Times have changed. These days, thinking of biology as destiny is not just a moral outrage, it is downright foolish. And not just because of the pill.

Attitudes to risk, socially conditioned for centuries, have finally begun searching for rational justifications. Think of money.

One, wanting it won't make you pregnant. That's for sure. Two, a mere man-made 'means of exchange', you need not devote your whole being to it. A setback is just that, a setback. And three, the riskier your investments, the more money you potentially make. High risk, typically, spells high returns. All this is good news for femalehood. For it adds up to a good case for taking on more risk.

Women need more money than men, too. By and large, women earn less and live longer than men, all other conditions being equal. Just to set that equation straight, your investment strategy would need to be bolder.

Rational Risk

When is risk rational? When you think in terms of expectations. Nothing biological, though. If your expectation of a pay-off is bigger than that of a loss, the bet is worth it, whatever the risk.

What is this 'expectation'? It is your prize on victory multiplied by the probability-on a scale from 0 to 1-of this happening. If you are to get Rs 100 on winning a coin toss, which you have half a chance of getting right, your expected gain is Rs 50. If you are to lose Rs 70 on losing the toss (again, a 'high risk' of 0.5), your expected loss is Rs 35. The difference is your net expectation: a net gain of Rs 15, in this case. It's worth the toss, right?

What if the stakes were bigger? Think about it.

Sure, making precise probability estimates is devilishly difficult in the real world of investments. But the point is: risk can be taken rationally. It pays. Risk, a dirty word? No longer.