(Reuters) -India’s Blue Star reported a smaller-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, hurt by rising expenses, particularly for raw materials.
The cooling appliances maker’s consolidated net profit rose 20.6% to 1.94 billion rupees ($22.9 million) in the three months ended March 31, but missed analysts’ expectations of 2.16 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.
A spike in the air conditioner maker’s raw materials costs pushed up its expenses by 21.4%.
Total revenue from operations rose 20.8% to 40.19 billion rupees, but fell short of analysts’ expectations of 40.86 billion rupees.
KEY CONTEXT
Consumer durable makers, including Blue Star, saw a rise in prices of raw materials, such as copper and aluminium, during the quarter.
Its peers Havells India and Orient Electric also reported higher costs, but posted upbeat results, supported by strong demand for cooling appliances ahead of the summer season.
PEER COMPARISON
Valuation Estimates (next 12 Analysts’ sentiment
(next 12 months)
months)
RIC PE EV/EBI Revenue Profit Mean # of Stock to Div
TDA growth(%) growth(%) rating* analysts price yield(%)
target
Blue Star 44.80 29.25 18.97 32.94 BUY 16 0.87 0.42
V Guard 39.08 24.88 13.73 25.16 BUY 15 0.85 0.37
Industries
Voltas 37.14 28.68 13.49 23.43 BUY 33 0.80 0.44
Havells India 54.85 37.13 13.96 20.24 Buy 24 0.89 0.62
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
JANUARY-MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE
— All data from LSEG
($1 = 84.7340 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Aleef Jahan)
