Down She Goes

Earnings Roundup

L&T Infotech (-1.5%) crushed Q3 estimates though the stock price didn’t reflect. Broad-based growth across geographies and industry verticals drove the outperformance. Operating margins improved 70 basis points despite higher costs. The company won new orders worth $30mn in Q2. 💰Here are the key stats: 

• Revenue: $553 million; +9% QoQ (vs Est: $543 million)
• PAT: Rs 613 cr; +11% QoQ  (vs Est: Rs 591 cr)
• EBIT: Rs 743 cr; +15% QoQ (vs Est: Rs 706 cr) 
• EBIT Margin: 17.9% vs Est: 17.3%

Sanjay Jalona, CEO & MD at L&T Infotech said:

This is our best ever quarterly sequential growth since listing. Our ongoing revenue momentum sets us up to deliver our highest year-over-year growth as a publicly listed company. 

But, markets were hoping for a little more. Despite strong Q3 earnings, the company did not raise its FY22 growth guidance. Concerns over margins due to higher staff resignations plus steep valuations kept investors edgy. 🙃

L&T Infotech is +63% in the past year.

Asian Paints (+1%) Q3 results were okay-ish. Topline beat estimates aided by a healthy 18% YoY growth in volumes. But, lower non-core income and higher raw material costs, mainly crude oil, hurt the bottomline. 📉 Check out its report card:  

• Revenue: Rs 8,527 cr; +26% YoY (vs Est: Rs 8,500 cr)
• EBITDA: Rs 1,542 cr; -14% YoY (vs Est: Rs 1,645 cr)
• EBITDA Margin: 18.1% (vs Est: 19.4%) 
• PAT: Rs 1,031 cr; -19% YoY (vs Est: Rs 1,140 cr) 

Amit Syngle, Managing Director & CEO at Asian Paints said:

The domestic Decorative business registered yet another strong double-digit growth performance, five quarters in a row… However, the automotive coatings business was impacted by the challenges facing the automotive sector. Substantial price increases have been taken in November and December to mitigate input cost inflation.

Asian Paints is +23% in the past year. 💸

Overheard on Stocktwits

Agriculture-related stocks are in the focus ahead of the upcoming budget. Prashant Bhansali’s top pick $FACT.NSE rallied +15% to hit a new all-time high of Rs 160 p/sh. Get sick trading ideas, latest market updates, and more only on Stocktwits. Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3zL3xJ9

Powered Up

Adani Green extended its winning streak to a 15th straight day. With this, the company’s market cap crossed the Rs 3 lakh crore mark. For those wondering, that’s 12 freaking zeros!! 🤯

Adani Green is now more valuable than the likes of L&T, Avenue Supermarts, Maruti Suzuki and Titan. So, what’s fuelling the rally? Markets are expecting the Govt to double down on its commitments toward green energy in the upcoming budget. Adani Green, one of the largest renewable energy companies in India, would stand to gain big time from this. 💰

Big Picture: India is the world’s third-biggest emitter and remains deeply reliant on coal to meet its energy demands. Going forward, the Government aims to change this and generate 50% of its power requirements from renewable sources. According to credit rating agency ICRA, the country needs to add annual capacity of 42GW over the next eight years to meet this target. ♻️

PS. keep an eye out on the rest of the Adani Group stocks as well. 👀

Time Please

Ashneer Grover, Co-Founder and Managing Director of fintech unicorn Bharat Pe has been asked to take time off following a string of controversies. No $h!t. ✈️

Here’s how it went down: Earlier this month, a SoundCloud clip of Grover abusing a Kotak Mahindra Bank employee went viral. Ashneer called the whole thing fake but a legal notice from the bank itself confirmed the recording’s authenticity. This created a massive controversy on social media with ex-employees calling out Ashneer for his rude behavior and toxic work culture at BharatPe. His antics on Shark Tank India were also not well received by the audience. 🙅‍♂️

Long story short, Bharat Pe does not want Ashneer’s mess to hurt the company’s image. Public memory is (in)famously short. So instead of firing him they sent him on an unpaid vacation. 🙃

Earnings Highlight

• Bajaj Auto: Revenue: Rs 9,021 cr; (+1% YoY) | Net Profit: Rs 1,429 cr; (-17% YoY)
• Mastek: Revenue: Rs 552 cr; (+25% YoY) | Net Profit: Rs 73 cr; (+28% YoY)
• Bajaj Finserv: Revenue: Rs 17,586 cr; (+10% YoY) | Net Profit: Rs 1,255 cr; (-3% YoY)
• Century Textile: Revenue: Rs 1,049 cr; (+39% YoY) | Net Profit: Rs 14 cr; (-56% YoY)
• Cyient: Revenue: Rs 1,184 cr; (+6.5% QoQ) | Net Profit: Rs 132 cr; (+9% QoQ)

Calendar 

A ton of companies will post their Q2 results tomorrow… Here’s all the important earnings you don’t want to miss: