India's largest passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki's Q3 earnings missed analyst estimates, with its net profit rising only 5.1 percent at Rs 1,565 crore against Rs 1,489.3 crore in the same period last year. The net profit missed the CNBC-TV18 analysts' poll estimate of Rs 1,676 crore.

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The automaker's total revenue from operations rose 5.8 percent to Rs 20,707 crore from Rs 19,669 crore. The CNBC TV-18 poll had estimated revenue of Rs 21,847 crore.

Post the earnings, brokerages remained mixed on the stock. Morgan Stanley was 'overweight', Kotak Institutional Equities had a 'sell' rating, and Jefferies maintained a 'hold' call.

Market reaction to its result also remained muted with the scrip adding about 2 percent in morning deals before turning flat.

The Ebitda came 11 percent below estimates mainly due to a weaker product mix, said Kotak Institutional Equities in its report. However, the brokerage expects passenger vehicles (PV) industry volumes to pick up in FY21 led by rural demand recovery. It cut the company's FY21-22 EPS estimates by 7-8 percent led by 2-4 percent cut in volume assumptions.

The competitive intensity in compact SUVs and rich valuations and market share loss in the compact SUV segment drove Kotak's sell rating but it expects total volumes to grow by 6 percent in FY21. It maintained the target price at Rs 5,800 per share.

Jefferies had a 'hold' rating but raised the target to Rs 7,500 from Rs 7,000 per share for the stock. The Q3 revenue was 4 percent below estimates due to very high discounts, according to the brokerage. It added that the miss in revenue flowed in the bottom line as well, however, the research house raised volume estimates, particularly for FY20 to reflect better H2 trends.

It also raised the FY20-22 EPS estimates to Rs 206/261/336 from Rs 158/231/324. The global brokerage sees a limited upside even assuming double-digit volume growth over FY21-22.

Morgan Stanley was the only brokerage with a bullish view and a target of Rs 8,205 per share. Some return of operating leverage helped margins to rise quarter-on-quarter and have enough levers to increase earnings as demand turns, said Morgan Stanley. The key thing to watch in the near-term is BS-VI transition, it said, adding that it believes that the multiples are sustainable at current levels.