Mumbai: Shares of low-fare airline SpiceJet Ltd beat Jet Airways India Ltd—India’s second-largest airline by passengers carried—for the first time to become second-most valuable aviation company in the county.
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd is India's most-valuable carrier with a market capitalization of Rs36,000 crore, stock exchange data showed.
SpiceJet Ltd’s market value was at Rs 5757.72 crore while its shares were trading at Rs96.10 on BSE—a level last seen on 8 November 2010, up 2.9% from its previous close— at 10.10pm on Friday. So far this year, the stock has gained 65.8%.
SpiceJet trades at 11 times trailing 12-month earnings per share. Of the analysts covering the stock, 8 have a “buy” rating, while two have a “sell” rating, shows Bloomberg data.
For the December quarter, the company's net profit declined 24% to Rs181.10 crore as against Rs 239.90 crore a year ago, while revenue rose 12.5% to Rs1,642.40 crore from Rs1,459.95 crore from the year-ago period.
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"With a turnaround in operations commencing from third quarter of financial year 2016, SpiceJet has maintained a good performance in the subsequent quarters. December quarter marked the first quarter where the operations were compared to the higher base of the previous year. While growth and load factors continue to look good, the impact of demoenetisation was visible in performances, more so on some of the international routes", said Prabhudas Lilladher in a 27 February report.
Shares of Jet Airways India Ltd rose 1.56% to Rs488.50 after which its market value stood at about Rs5549.23 crore. So far this year, it has gained 40%.
The stock trades at 4.6 times trailing 12-month earnings per share and 13 times its estimates for the coming year. Of the analysts covering stock, two have a “buy” rating, two have “hold” ratings while two have a “sell” rating, according to Bloomberg data.
Jet Airways reported 69% decline in its net profit for December quarter to Rs142.38 crore against Rs467.11 crore a year ago. Revenue dropped to Rs3,344.62 crore against Rs3,608 crore a year ago.
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which operates India’s biggest budget airline IndiGo, saw its third-quarter profit drop 25% because of increased fuel costs and lower ticket prices.
