Shares of Colgate Palmolive rose nearly 7 percent on Friday after it reported a 24.74 percent increase in net profit at Rs 248.36 crore in the December quarter. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 199.1 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

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The sentiment was also lifted as brokerage retained their bullish views for the firm post the earning. While Jefferies and HSBC had 'buy' calls on the stock, Credit Suisse and CLSA retained 'outperform ratings.

The stock rose as much as 6.7 percent to its day's high of Rs 1,669.20 per share on BSE.

Total income during the period under review stood at Rs 1,241.81 crore, up 7.70 percent, as compared to Rs 1,152.97 crore in the year-ago quarter, Colgate-Palmolive (India) said in a regulatory filing.

Ram Raghavan, Managing Director at Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd, said: "We are very pleased with not only the continued momentum on the business but also the quality of the results... Our strategic and disciplined approach to building brands, driving innovation, and relentless focus on winning on the ground continues to deliver as per our expectations."

As per CLSA, the firm's December quarter earnings were in-line with analyst expectations with sales, EBIDTA and PAT growth at 8 percent, 17 percent and 25 percent YoY respectively.

The brokerage continues to see renewed thrust in the core, focus on expanding oral care and strengthening go to market, which will shape Colgate’s future. It also sees heightened brand spend in a benign raw material setting as an apt strategy to win consumers back. While efforts in natural have not yielded the expected results, it said that focus on premiumisation and category can be seen.

Meanwhile, Jefferies said a favourable mix allowed the firm to report a near record-high gross margin. It raised EPS estimated by 3-6 percent.

Credit Suisse also noted that Q3 has been the first quarter of double-digit revenue growth in 5 years and increased its FY21-23 earnings by 3 percent.

HSBC believes that revenue momentum and cost efficiencies support the strong earnings outlook. It further added that valuations remain quite compelling.