Ashok Leyland shares tumbled to a 5-month low on Wednesday despite the company reporting stellar Q1 earnings. Notably, Ashok Leyland reported a more than 3 times rise in net profit to Rs 370 crore compared to Rs 111.2 crore in same period last year, backed by robust revenue as well as operational performance. Ashok Leyland, which is currently trading at a 5-month low since February-2018, has fallen nearly 30% from its 52-week high of Rs 168 touched on May 8, 2018. Its 52-week low stands at Rs 98.80. Interestingly, the company’s revenue from operations grew by more than 46.5% on-year to Rs 6,250 crore.
Taking stock of the Q1 results, global research firm Macquarie said that the Q1 EBITDA came in 2% lower than its estimate. The EBITDA margins have improved when compared to last year, but declined on a q-o-q basis, reflecting volume changes, Macquarie said. The firm said that it sees demand uncertainty in the near term, and valuations remain expensive. Macquarie has a target price of Rs 113 on the shares, and has maintained an underperform rating on the shares.
Ashok Leyland shares were seen trading at Rs 118.35, down by nearly 8%. Morgan Stanley noted that the company had better margins in the first quarter, leading Ashok Leyland to beat estimates. The margin beat was driven by lower raw material costs. The research firm has a target price of Rs 178 on the shares. The target price implies an upside of more than 48% from the current price levels.
“Total industry volume registered 84% growth primarily driven by a surge in infrastructure spend resulting in higher sale of tipper and multi-axle vehicles. There was also the impact of the base effect. We continued our focus on profitable growth and tight control on working capital, in a market which operated on heavy discounting and credit push,” said the firm’s Ashok Leyland MD, Vinod K Dasari said.