LIC Housing down 5% despite better Q1 nos; JP Morgan, Macquarie maintain neutral call

Shares of LIC Housing Finance shed 5 percent in the early trade on Monday despite company reported strong numbers in the quarter ended June 2018.

The company's Q1FY19 (April-June) profit rose 18.4 percent to Rs 567.94 crore versus Rs 479.65 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

Revenue increased by 10.8 percent to Rs 4,018.95 crore versus Rs 3,626.85 crore.

Here are brokerage houses' views on LIC Housing Finance post its Q1 earnings:

JP Morgan

JPMorgan has maintained neutral rating on LIC Housing Finance with a target of Rs 520 with a potential downside of 9 percent.

According to JP Morgan in the Q1FY19 asset quality shows pressure in retail and wholesale book, while loan growth remains steady at 15 percent.

The spreads show improvement on QoQ, while INDAS impact was limited, it added.

Edelweiss

Edelweiss has maintained buy on LIC Housing Finance with a target of Rs 787 with a potential upside of 38 percent.

The research house believes that Q1 net profit optically is in line, but operating metrics trends were below expectations.

Individual loan growth was modest, while developer book lends the support. The asset quality under pressure; Recovery holds key

Nomura

Nomura has maintained buy on the stock with a target of Rs 600 per share. The Q1 numbers were weak but largely transitory, it said.

According to Nomura, some moderation is in core mortgage growth. The asset quality trends weaken but largely due to seasonality. The IND-AS impact is a permanent positive, it added.

Macquarie

Macquarie has maintain neutral call on LIC Housing with a target at Rs 608 per share.

NIM remains volatile despite efforts and need lot of clarity from the management, it said.

At 09:17 hrs LIC Housing Finance was quoting at Rs 542.65, down Rs 28.85, or 5.05 percent on the BSE.