Stock Markets Live: Sensex, Nifty Hold Gains; Metal Stocks Extend Rally

The initial public offerings of Rolex Rings Ltd. and Glenmark Life Sciences continued to witness strong retail investor interest on their second and third days respectively.

The two issues were overall subscribed 5.01 and 6.87 times so far, respectively.

Follow their subscription updates live:

Shares of Route Mobile shed 5.26% to Rs 2,062 apiece after it reported a sequential decline in net profit in June quarter earnings on Wednesday.

• Revenue from operations up 4.2% at Rs 377.52 crore vs Rs 362.44 crore

• Net profit down 3.2% at Rs 34.32 vs Rs 35.47 crore

• Total expenses up 6.16% at Rs 339.06 crore vs Rs 319.37 crore

• Total income up 5.6% at Rs 381.98 crore vs Rs 361.83 crore

• Earnings per share at Rs 5.86 vs Rs 6.17

Out of the 5 analysts tracking the company, 4 maintained ‘buy’ and 1 analyst maintained ‘hold’ recommendation. The overall consensus price of analysts tracked by Bloomberg implied a downside of 18.9%

Emkay Global View

• Recommends ‘buy’ with a 12-month target price of Rs 2,420, an upside of 11.2%

• Operating performance below expectation, lower gross margin and higher employee costs weighed on Ebitda.

• Decline in billable transactions due to an alleged data breach incident, teething DLT issues faced by enterprise clients and the impact of the second wave of covid infections.

• Expect the stock’s near-term performance to remain subdued due to strong run-up in stock price and soft June quarter.

• Medium term outlook remains intact due to strong industry tailwinds, new product expansions and presence in fast growing markets.

• Acquisition of SendClean email platform to aid growth going forward

Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd. jumped after brokerages gave a thumbs-up to the telecom operator’s decision to hike tariff for its entry-level plan.

The company had revised pricing of its retail and corporate postpaid plans last week. The operator has in effect increased entry-level prepaid pricing by 61.2% and postpaid cost by 20-50%.

Brokerages Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan reiterated their bullish rating on the stock.

“The average revenue per user increase from the revised plans could lead to 4-7% increase in revenues and Ebitda for Bharti's India wireless business over FY23-24 assuming limited SIM consolidation. We don't expect explicit tariff increases in the short term but such implicit tariff increases drive continued price repair and provide a rerating catalyst for the stock,” said JPMorgan.

Goldman Sachs in its note said it sees this increase in tariffs by Bharti as a significant catalyst for the sector and that it estimates a $400 million increment in annual Ebitda for every Rs 10 in incremental monthly average revenue per user

Meanwhile, Jefferies upgraded its rating on the stock to ‘buy’ citing recent positives such as the recent AGR judgement and potential delays in 5G auctions along with the projected higher future tariffs. It set a target price of Rs 655 on the stock.

Shares of Bharti Airtel gained as much as 1.25% to Rs 575.

A gauge of metal companies rose for a sixth straight session to a record high of 5,717.10.

India’s steel consumption is set to break records this year, reversing the performance in 2020 when demand crashed as the pandemic upended economic activity.

Economic activity in the country has revived as a deadly second wave of infections abates. The International Monetary Fund expects India to grow 9.5% this year. That’s in contrast to last year, when the economy tipped into an unprecedented 7.3% contraction, as a nationwide lockdown brought the country to a standstill.

To read the full report, click here.