Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) fell after four sessions today as the state-owned firm announced its earnings for the quarter ended December 2022 on February 9, 2023. IRCTC, the tourism and ticketing arm of Indian Railways, logged a 22% rise in net profit to Rs 256 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2022 against Rs 209 crore in the year-ago period.
IRCTC stock fell 1.38% to Rs 642 against the previous close of Rs 651.25 on BSE. The stock hit 52-week high of Rs 857.80 on February 10, 2022 and a 52-week low of Rs 557 on July 6, 2022.
IRCTC shares are trading higher than the 5 day and 20 day moving averages but lower than the 50 day, 100 day and 200 day moving averages.
The stock has gained 0.9 per cent since the beginning of this year and fallen 23.67 per cent in one year. Market cap of the firm stood at Rs 51,628 crore. Total 0.37 lakh shares amounting to a turnover of Rs 2.39 crore changed hands on BSE.
IRCTC’s revenue climbed 70% to Rs 918 crore in Q3 as compared to Rs 540 crore in Q3FY22. The company announced interim dividend of Rs 3.5 per share.
EBITDA climbed 16.7 percent to Rs 325.8 crore in Q3 from Rs 279.2 crore in corresponding period of previous year.
However, IRCTC’s margin declined from 51.7 percent in the previous year to 35.5 percent in the December quarter.
On a sequential basis, the profit after tax from continuing operations rose 13% in the third quarter from Rs 226 crore in the preceding September quarter. Revenue rose 13% quarter-on-quarter from Rs 806 crore in the September quarter.
Jinesh Joshi – Research Analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher said the earnings came marginally above estimates. Joshi has assigned a hold call for the stock with a target price of Rs 679.
“All the segments were EBIT positive with internet ticketing reporting the highest EBIT margin of 84.2%. EBITDA rose 16.7% YoY to Rs 3,258 mn (Prabhudas Lilladher estimates Rs 3,181 mn) with a margin of 35.5% (Prabhudas Lilladher estimates of 36.2%) as against 51.7% in 3QFY22. The stock currently trades at 47.5x our FY24E EPS estimate of Rs 13.5. PAT rose 22.4% YoY to Rs 2,555 mn (Prabhudas Lilladher estimates of Rs 2,445 mn) with a margin of 27.8% (Prabhudas Lilladher estimates 27.8%) as against 38.7% in 3QFY22,” said Joshi.
Abhijeet from Tips2trade said, “IRCTC stock price faces strong resistance at Rs 658 on the daily charts. A close above this level could be bullish and lead to targets of Rs 700-730 in the coming days. Support will be at Rs 601.”
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