Asian Paints will be reporting its fourth-quarter numbers on Tuesday. CNBC-TV18 poll estimates the firm to post a 17 percent growth in revenue at Rs 7,785 crore versus the same quarter a year ago. The expectation comes from the fact that the company raised the prices of its products by 15 percent in the March quarter.

At 0940 IST, shares of Asian Paints were trading 2.3 percent higher at Rs 3,078.4 on BSE. The stock has gained after six days of consecutive losses.

The stock touched an intraday high of Rs 3,106.75, up 3.2 percent, on the BSE today. (Source: BSE website)

Poll estimates EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation, to grow 6 percent year-on-year. Net profit is likely to grow by about 5 percent to Rs 913 crore for the fourth quarter year-on-year.

The stock has been losing for the last six days and has fallen 7.34 percent returns in the period. On May 9, Asian Paints was trading lower than 5 day, 20 day, 50 day, 100 day and 200 day moving averages.

Volumes are likely to grow 3-5 percent against the management's own target of double-digit volume growth in the fourth quarter. But when this comment was made, management did not anticipate the Russia-Ukraine war. They had upped the upper end of their margin guidance from 18-22 percent to 18-21 percent. But this was anticipating a decline in raw material prices that hasn't happened.

So, the margin is estimated to see a decline of almost 200 basis points — 18 percent in the period under review versus 19.8 percent in the same period a year ago.

The March quarter will see the full impact of all the price hikes that the company has taken. The company has hiked prices by 23 percent in this financial year so far.

The management commentary on the first quarter demand as well as inflation will be watched out for because, by the end of the third quarter, the management had believed that things had peaked.

Watch the accompanying video for more details.

First Published:May 10, 2022 8:21 AM IST