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Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) shares were in focus on Thursday, a day after the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) major beat analysts forecast with its January-March earnings. The HUL stock gained as much as Rs 85.9 or four percent to Rs 2,230 on BSE in early deals.

After the market hours on Wednesday, Hindustan Unilever reported an 8.6 percent increase in net profit to Rs 2,327 crore on a year-on-year basis. Its quarterly revenue rose 11 percent to Rs 13,462 crore.

The company's numbers exceeded Street expectations on the topline, bottomline and margin fronts.

On Wednesday, the HUL stock had edged lower ahead of the company's earnings announcement.

The company's management said the operating environment continues to be challenging and its margin will decline in the short term. However, it also mentioned that its premium business is growing at a good pace.

Morgan Stanley retained an 'equal-weight' rating on HUL with a target price of Rs 2,381. The company's financial results were ahead of the brokerage's estimates.

Credit Suisse said the FMCG company's gross margin was under pressure in the January-March period but cost savings protected its EBITDA margin.

The brokerage maintained its 'outperform' call on HUL but brought down its target price to Rs 2,550 from Rs 2,800.

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(Edited by : Akanksha Upadhyay)

First Published:Apr 28, 2022 9:45 AM IST