ITC shares see 2.7% fall post Q2 earnings. Should you buy?

Shares of ITC fell 2.7% to the day’s low of Rs 438.25 on the NSE despite a better than estimated June quarter earnings reported. The Street remained unimpressed despite buy views from a couple of top brokerages viz. Jefferies and Nuvama and an add recommendation by Kotak Institutional Equities, as selling pressure in the FMCG stocks weighed, dragging the broader Nifty as well.

Nifty FMCG index was the worst performing index and was trading more than 1% or 600 points lower from Thursday’s closing level. In the 15-stock index, eight were trading with declines around 10:20 am.

Apart from ITC, the other top losers were Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Dabur India and Varun Beverages, all of which fell over 1% around this time.

ITC on Thursday reported a 10.3% year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit for the quarter ended September to Rs 4,927 crore. This was higher than the ETNow poll of Rs 4,906 crore.

Revenue from operations, excluding excise duty, increased 2.6% YoY to Rs 16,550 crore. Operating profit, calculated as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), rose a mere 1% YoY Rs 4,886.54 crore. Operating margin shrank 44 basis points on year to 29.53%.

Following ITC’s earnings, Nuvama and Kotak Institutional Equities came out with their stock reviews. While the former took a buy view, the latter recommended an add rating.

This is what they recommended:Nuvama: Buy | Target: Rs 560
The brokerage remained positive on ITC’s FY24E revenue momentum expecting all major segments doing well as it retained Buy with an SoTP-based target price of Rs 560. ITC’s Q2FY24 revenue and profit after tax (PAT) were ahead of its estimates, though EBITDA came below the estimates.

Kotak: Add | Target: Rs 470
Kotak Equities recommended an Add rating on the counter as it trimmed FY2024-26E EPS by 1-2% and revised its fair value to Rs 470 from Rs 467, earlier.

The brokerage said that ITC’s Q2 print was a mixed bag with cigarette volume/revenue/EBIT registering growth even as the growth trajectory moderated to normalised levels. Meanwhile, FMCG and hotels business registered robust topline growth and profitability.

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