Strong Q4 earnings: Britannia shares up 7% in early trade, hit 52-week high

Buoyed by a strong growth in the fourth quarter earnings, investors lapped up shares of Britannia Industries helping the stock hit a new 52-week high in early Friday trade. Heavy buying saw the stock hit a high of Rs 2,556.45 on the BSE, up nearly 12 percent before trimming some gains thereafter. [caption id=“attachment_150416” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption]At 10.05 am, Britannia Industries counter was quoted at Rs 2,446, up nearly 7% from its previous close on volumes of 45,000 shares. Since the start of 2015, Britannia stock has gained nearly 30 percent till date, outperforming the BSE FMCG index, which has risen a meagre 2 percent during the period. The FMCG major on Thursday reported an upbeat 55 percent jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 167.25 crore duing the quarter ended March 2015 compared with net profit of Rs 107.66 crore registered in the same quarter a year ago. The company’s net sales rose 14 percent year on year to Rs 2,031.83 crore from Rs 1,777.28 crore. For the financial year 2014-15, net profit stood at Rs 688.64 crore, up 74 percent as against Rs 395.35 crore in the year-ago period. Net sales during the period were up nearly 14 percent at Rs 7,775.09 crore as against Rs 6,829.32 crore a year ago. Post the company’s stupendous results, brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher has put a ‘buy’ rating on the stock with a price target of Rs 2,500 from Thursday’s closing levels. “We expect input costs tailwind to sustain, given benign prices of Wheat, SMP, Palmoil and Sugar. We expect BRIT to gain from investments in new units, distribution expansion and new launches. We estimate 200bps margin expansion and 32% PAT CAGR in standalone operations over FY15‐17. We value the stock at 32xMarch 17 EPS,” the brokerage said in its report.