ITC may soar up to 28% on strong Q3: Brokerages

Mumbai: Brokerages see upsides of as much as 28% in shares of cigarettes-to-hotels conglomerate ITC as the company reported better-than-expected December quarter results and the government did not make any changes to the cigarette taxes in the Union Budget earlier this week. The stock ended down 0.1% at ₹234.15.

Brokerages such as JM Financial, CLSA, Antique Stock Broking, Axis Capital, Investec, IDBI Capital and Emkay Global have maintained 'buy' ratings while Morgan Stanley has retained an 'overweight'. Edelweiss has upgraded the stock to 'buy'. IDBI Capital has the highest target price among these and its target price of ₹300 translates to a potential 28% upside for the stock.

Analysts said no tinkering in taxes on cigarettes, its mainstay business, will boost ITC's earnings and could possibly lead to a re-rating.

"Capital allocation concerns are progressively being addressed, and a strong ESG rating (environment, social and governance) should support stock re-rating," said CLSA.

JM Financial, Edelweiss and Investec have raised target prices by 2-7%.