(Reuters) -India’s Ramco Cements beat second-quarter profit estimates on Wednesday, as cement prices recovered.
The company’s standalone net profit after tax nearly tripled year-on-year to 743.1 million Indian rupees ($8.45 million) for the quarter ended September 30. Analysts on average expected 555.7 million rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Its revenue grew by nearly 10% to 22.35 billion rupees, helped by core markets in southern India.
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KEY CONTEXT
The July-September quarter coincides with India’s annual monsoon season, during which construction activity typically dips and demand for cement sags, pressuring prices. While cement prices were little changed sequentially, they were 5% higher in the quarter from last year, Ambit Research data showed.
Analysts expect cement demand to recover in the second half of 2026, as demand accelerates following tax cuts.
Adani-owned firms ACC and Ambuja Cements posted a second-quarter profit jump while managing to shield their volumes from seasonal volatility, thanks to the string of deals inked in the sector recently.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation (next 12 Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
months) months)
RIC PE EV/EBI Price/ Revenue Profit Mean No. of Stock to Div
TDA Sales growth (%) growth (%) rating* analyst price yield
s target** (%)
Ramco Cements 37.10 14.03 NULL 11.53 96.32 Hold 21 0.99 0.19
UltraTech Cement 33.75 18.67 3.65 13.05 34.20 Buy 37 0.86 0.66
Ambuja Cements 31.78 15.57 3.04 17.94 9.48 Buy 38 0.85 0.35
Dalmia Bharat 27.81 11.19 2.46 9.89 28.30 Hold 35 0.85 0.44
* 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
JULY – SEPTEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
— $1 = 87.8950 Indian rupees
(Reporting by Urvi Dugar, Nishit Navin and Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
