While FIIs remain the biggest bears on Dalal Street, buried within that relentless outflow is a more interesting story. In a handful of select stocks, foreign investors quietly changed their minds, reversing course and accumulating even as they continued to exit positions elsewhere. These were outlier names where FIIs corrected what now looks like a mistake. And in six of those stocks, the selective re-entry has since delivered multibagger returns.Within that list, Bajaj Consumer Care has surged nearly 265% in the past year. Acutaas Chemicals is up 187%. SML Mahindra has gained 125%. Dee Development Engineers has risen 119%. United Foodbrands is up 112%. RateGain Travel Technologies has more than doubled, up 102%.All six are stocks where foreign investors quietly raised their stakes in the March quarter after selling them in the previous two quarters, according to data from ACE Equity.The 6 multibagger stocksThe most dramatic FII re-entry story belongs to Bajaj Consumer Care, which recorded an extraordinary one-year return of 265%. Foreign investors had systematically cut their holding in the consumer stock from 10.95% in June 2025 to 10.12% in September 2025, and further down to 9.7% by December 2025. Recognizing the error, FIIs aggressively reversed course in the March 2026 quarter, ramping up their stake to 16.59%.The stock responded accordingly, climbing from Rs 169.8 to Rs 619.7, a gain of nearly 265%. For anyone who tracked the FII filing and acted early, this was a once-a-cycle trade.Acutaas Chemicals tells a similar story. FII shareholding moved from 16.94% in June 2025 to 19.48% in March 2026, a steady accumulation that ran parallel to a 187% price appreciation from Rs 1,130.75 to Rs 3,248.45.The institutional course correction was even more pronounced in SML Mahindra, where FIIs had dramatically slashed their stake from a sizable 15.73% in June 2025 to just 1.80% in September and a mere 0.61% in December. The subsequent pivot to 0.77% in the March 2026 quarter accompanied a powerful 124.75% simple return over the latest year, highlighting how even minor institutional re-entries can amplify momentum in tightly held counters.Dee Development Engineers saw FII holding inch from 0.81% to 0.99% — marginal in absolute terms, but the directional shift was enough. The stock is up 119%, from Rs 309.8 to Rs 677.65.United Foodbrands saw a more measured FII accumulation, from 10.14% to 9.66% — a small net increase from the trough, with the September 2025 quarter marking a low point. The stock has appreciated 112%, from Rs 316.7 to Rs 672.RateGain Travel Technologies rounds out the list. FII ownership rose from 5.51% in June 2025 to 5.35% in March 2026, after falling to 4.97%. The stock is up 102%, from Rs 431.9 to Rs 873.25.What the smart money is watching nowThe FII U-turn happened against a backdrop of shifting macro narratives and the debate on where to position next is far from settled.Nuvama's strategy team, assuming a US-Iran deal goes through and supply-side pressures ease, sees the next leg of the market driven by demand dynamics. In that environment, the house favours high dividend yield sectors, less cyclical names, and exporters — beneficiaries of an undervalued rupee. Nuvama's overweights include consumer, cement, chemicals, IT, private banks, and pharma. It is underweight industrials, metals, autos, and power.JM Financial takes a more defensive tilt. Against a backdrop of high crude prices, rupee weakness, and rising external uncertainties, the brokerage argues that "risks to FY27 earnings remain skewed to the downside despite consensus expectations remaining elevated." JM has repositioned toward pharma and healthcare, oil and gas, and metals, while maintaining a preference for NBFCs and infrastructure and defence.It is cautious on banks, where earnings growth is constrained despite healthy credit, and on automobiles, where commodity price pressure could squeeze margins. IT services, where demand visibility is weak amid macro uncertainty and GenAI-led productivity pressures, is also a concern.Tata Mutual Fund's view is centred on large caps. The fund house notes that a likely US slowdown and reduced confidence in the dollar could be positive for emerging market flows, a reversal that would benefit India. "Indian corporate earnings also appear set for recovery in FY27," the fund house says, adding that large caps should outperform given cheaper valuations and earnings stability, even as the valuation premium of mid and small caps has compressed after recent corrections.Bandhan AMC's CIO for equity, Manish Gunwani, sees long-term equity market returns converging to 6 to 6.5 percentage points above inflation from current levels, with valuations at fair rather than distressed levels. Provided the conflict does not re-escalate, Gunwani projects earnings growth for the upcoming fiscal year at around 15%, with no major downgrades currently in sight.His most interesting call is on small caps: he considers the space the most attractive for a three- to five-year horizon, offering the best ability to play extreme change and access distressed valuations. On sector positioning, he sees manufacturing and global capex plays, including defence and energy security infrastructure, as key growth areas driven by supply chain security and the AI thematic.(Data: Ritesh Presswala)(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)