Shares of Adani Group’s flagship firm — Adani Enterprises — fell sharply in Wednesday’s trade, extending their fall for the fourth straight session. The stock slumped 10 per cent to hit a day low of Rs 1,411.60 over its previous close of Rs 1,568.40. The apples-to-airport conglomerate’s other listed entities also felt the pain after Wikipedia claimed that sockpuppets – some of them being the online encyclopedia’s employees – created ‘puffery’ around Gautam Adani, his family and the group by adding non-neutral material and removing warnings from the information.
The group’s market capitalisation (m-cap) has slipped below the $100 billion mark as a selloff intensified in a majority of the conglomerate’s listed counters. Since January 24 this year, Adani stocks took a major hit after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research alleged that the Gautam Adani-led Indian conglomerate had engaged in stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the last few decades. Adani Group, however, refuted the claim as baseless.
Wikipedia, in a report, referred to the ‘con’ alleged by Hindenburg and stated: “Did he (Adani) and his employees also try to ‘con’ Wikipedia readers with non-neutral PR versions of related Wikipedia articles? Almost certainly they did. Over 40 later banned or blocked sockpuppets or undeclared paid editors created or revised nine related articles on the Adani family and family businesses.”
On the earnings front, Adani Enterprises reported a net profit of Rs 820.06 crore in the December 2022 quarter (Q3 FY23) against a loss of Rs 11.63 crore in the same period a year ago.
The counter has declined 58.42 per cent in the past month. “Adani Enterprises looks bearish on the daily charts with strong resistance at Rs 1,722. A daily close below Rs 1,309 could lead to a lower target of Rs 1,134 in the near term,” said AR Ramachandran from Tips2trades.
The stock was last seen trading lower than 5-day, 20-, 50-, 100- and 200-day moving averages. The counter’s 14-day relative strength index (RSI) came at 24.79. A level below 30 is defined as oversold while a value above 70 is considered overbought. The company’s stock has a price-to-equity (P/E) ratio of 126.94. The earnings per share (EPS) of the firm came at 12.36, lower than the P/E ratio.
Adani Enterprises has a one-year beta of 1.58, indicating high volatility.
Meanwhile, Indian equity benchmarks traded lower in late morning deals, dragged by banks, financial, technology and energy stocks.
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