Exide Industries Ltd, the country's largest lead acid storage battery maker, will release its December quarter earnings on Monday and investors will be keenly looking out as the stock has been under pressure for a while.

In the last couple of months, the shares of Exide Industries has dropped from the high of around Rs 280.

The analysts are expecting the revenues to rise in Q3 by about 12 percent led by healthy growth in auto replacement segment. On the margin front, it is expected to be at about 12.9 percent against 12.4 percent same time last year. The margins were under a lot of pressure in Q2 also.

Although, the revenues are growing fine, the operational performance of Exide Industries has been under pressure. In the management’s own admission, higher fuel costs have impacted margins.

Pickup in the motorcycle batteries segment and lower lead cost quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) will increase margins on quarterly basis. However, with intense competition, can Exide Industries hold on to these margins.