Shares of IRCTC dropped over 3% in opening trade on Tuesday as investors resorted to profit booking after the ticketing, catering, and tourism arm of the Indian Railways reported double-digit growth in the top and bottom line in the March quarter. The state-owned company also declared a final dividend of ₹2 per equity share of face value of ₹2 each for the financial year 2022-23. In the last one year, the company has declared an equity dividend amounting to ₹5 per share, while it paid 6 dividends since its listing in 2019.
Snapping the two-session losing streak, IRCTC shares opened marginally lower at ₹645 against the previous closing price of ₹645.6 on the BSE. Extending opening losses, the stock fell as much as 3.2% to ₹625, while the market capitalisation dipped to ₹50,492 crore.
IRCTC has delivered a negative return of 9% over the past year, while the midcap stock fell 14% in the six-month period. The railway stock has risen 1% each in the last one month and a week. However, the state-owned company has given a stellar return to investors since its listing in 2019 by rising 306% during this period.
The railway stock traded 19% lower than its 52-week high of ₹775 touched on November 7, 2022, and 12% higher than its 52-week low of ₹557 hit on July 6, 2022.
For the January-March quarter of 2023, IRCTC posted a 30.4% rise in standalone net profit at ₹279 crore compared with ₹214 crore in the year-ago period. The revenue from operations jumped 39.6% to ₹965 crore for Q4FY23, as against ₹691 crore in the same quarter last year.
On the operating front, Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) grew 16.5% at ₹324.6 crore during the quarter under review as against ₹278.5 crore in the last fiscal, while the margin was at 33.6% compared to 40.3% in the year-ago period.
Segment-wise, the revenue from the catering segment surged 49% year-on-year (YoY) to ₹396 crore versus, while the revenue from internet ticketing business increased marginally to ₹295 crore from ₹293 crore in the last fiscal. The Rail Neer segment generated revenue of ₹73 crore, up 33% from ₹55 crore in the last-year period.
Post Q4 results, analysts at Prabhudas Lilladher has recommended buying and accumulating the stock for an upside target of ₹727 while keeping the stop loss at ₹605.” The stock has bottomed out near the 560 zone and given a decent pullback towards 630 levels where the stock has been in consolidation and currently has given a strong positive candle to indicate a breakout above the rectangular box anticipating further upside move with improvement in the bias. With the RSI showing strength has again regained after a short correction to signal a buy and has much upside potential to carry on the momentum still further ahead,” says Vaishali Parekh, Vice President - Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher.
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