Titan Company Ltd is one of the most favoured stocks in the investor community, given consistent returns since listing and strong growth performance. From Rs 2.5 per share in 2003 to Rs 1,083 today, this stock has surged nearly 48,000 percent till date.

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In the last one year alone, Titan has returned 16.7 percent as against a 1.4 percent fall in Sensex.

Not just that, Titan achieved Rs 1 lakh crore market capitalisation in May. The stock hit a 52-week high of 1,340.75 on July 1 this year, recovering steadily from a 52-week low of Rs 731.70 touched on October 9 last year.

The stock has also outperformed the benchmark index every month in 2019, except July. It rose 7 percent in January, 7.2 percent in February, 10.7 percent in March, 1.6 percent in April, 6.7 percent in May, and 7.5 percent in June.

In comparison, Sensex has gained 0.5 percent in January, 0.6 percent in February, 7.8 percent in March, 0.9 percent in April, 1.7 percent in May and fell 1 percent in June.

In the month of July, Titan plunged 20 percent, while, Sensex lost 4.8 percent. The fall in Titan came on the back of a flurry of downgrades, a dim June quarter and rise in gold import duty on gold in the Union Budget 2019.

But the stock regained some momentum in August. As of August 14, the stock has advanced 2.6 percent, whereas Sensex has lost 0.4 percent .

Titan, in its June-quarter update, said the first quarter of the current fiscal saw a tough macro-economic environment with consumption taking a hit. The jewellery-to-watch maker said very high gold prices, particularly in June, also impacted growth in the jewellery industry.

Morgan Stanley downgraded the firm to 'equal weight' from 'overweight' with a target price of Rs 1,300 per share. The brokerage said growth moderated in core jewellery business more sharply than their expectations.

"Titan remains one of our favourite long-term plays on urban discretionary consumption growth in India. However, following the strong trailing performance, we are now reluctant to push multiples beyond current levels. We see balanced risk-reward at the current stock price," the brokerage explained.

Credit Suisse has also downgraded the stock to 'neutral' from 'outperform' with target unchanged at Rs 1,250 per share. The firm's stretched valuations and near term softness limit upside for the stock but the brokerage is positive in the medium-term. HSBC too downgraded the Titan Company share price to 'hold' from 'buy', maintaining the target price at Rs 1,300.

For Q1, Titan Company reported 6.17 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in its standalone net profit at Rs 370.73 crore as against Rs 349.17 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue of the company rose 14.4 percent at Rs 4,939.7 crore versus Rs 4,319 crore YoY.

First Published:Aug 15, 2019 9:48 AM IST