(Reuters) – India’s Blue Star, which makes air conditioners and air purifiers, reported a bigger-than-expected increase in third-quarter profit on Wednesday, helped by higher demand during the festive season.
Consolidated net profit rose 32% to 1.33 billion rupees ($15.37 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, beating analysts’ expectations of 1.23 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.
Total revenue from operations rose 25% to 28.07 billion rupees, while analysts expected 26.56 billion rupees.
Total expenses rose 25% during the quarter.
For further results highlights, click (Full story).
KEY CONTEXT
Analysts have said the demand for home appliances held up in the October to December quarter, which includes many key festivals.
However, consumer electrical goods makers have been grappling with fluctuations in commodity prices and heightened competition, which have squeezed their margins.
Polycab and V Guard Industries missed profit estimates for the quarter as their wires business was impacted by commodity price fluctuations.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBI Price/ Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div
TDA Sales growth (%) growth (%) rating* analyst price yield
s target** (%)
Blue Star 48.55 33.17 – 19.95 29.89 Buy 17 0.92 0.40
V Guard Industries 37.17 24.32 – 14.80 26.57 Buy 17 0.77 0.40
Voltas 41.66 33.40 2.53 16.06 37.18 Hold 33 0.82 0.38
Havells India 52.61 35.80 3.94 14.91 23.09 Buy 24 0.81 0.67
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
OCTOBER-DECEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 86.5370 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto; Editing by Eileen Soreng)
