Brokerages are bullish on ITC after it posted an 18.73 percent increase in net profit at Rs 3,481.90 crore in its fourth quarter results. It comes on the back of the strong sales from its FMCG and cigarette units.
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Revenue of the company was up 13 percent at Rs 11,992 crore while EBITDA was at Rs 4,572 crore, and margin at 38.1 percent.
Deutsche Bank, Citi Research and Credit Suisse raised their price targets' on the stock as they believe that the cigarette business will continue to deliver healthy volumes.
"Cigarette volume growth was at 8 percent which is better than the estimates. Cigarette EBIT sees a double-digit growth, first time in 12 quarters. FMCG business witnessed growth deceleration, partially due to a slowdown. Risk-reward appears attractive at 26x FY20 earnings", said CLSA.
Jefferies in its research report said, "Q4 revenue was slightly ahead but the EBITDA numbers were in-line with the estimates. Any tax hike on cigarettes can be easily absorbed by the consumers. Margin improvement in other businesses is also heartening."