Laurus Labs surges 6% as stock to turn ex-date for 1:5 split on Tuesday

The board has fixed September 30, 2020 as the 'record date' for sub-division of equity shares of the company from existing face value of Rs 10 each to face value of Rs 2 each

Shares of Laurus Labs were up 6 per cent to Rs 1,408 on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Monday head of the ex-date for 1:5 stock split on Tuesday, September 29, 2020.

The board of directors of Laurus Labs, at their meeting held on July 30, fixed September 30, 2020 as the 'record date' for sub-division of equity shares of the company from existing face value of Rs 10 each to face value of Rs 2 each (i.e. split of 1 equity share of Rs 10 into 5 equity shares of Rs 2 each). The company announced, on April 30, its stock split plan to make the stock more affordable for the small retail investors and to increase liquidity.

In the past six months, Laurus Labs has outperformed the market by surging 327 per cent, as against 27 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex. The stock of the pharmaceutical company hit a record high of Rs 1,549.80 on September 21, 2020.

Laurus Labs is one of the leading research-driven pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in India. The company has grown to become one of the leading manufacturers of API for anti-retroviral (ARV), oncology, cardiovascular, anti-diabetics, anti-asthma, and gastroenterology.

Analysts at ICICI Securities have 'buy' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 1,620 per share. The brokerage firm expects the Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) segment to exhibit strong growth on the back of customer additions. Laurus, it says, is well poised to follow the success story of some leading CDMO players backed by strong chemistry and integrated model.

Laurus has shown strong improvement in performance, with profit after tax doubling to Rs 250 crore in FY20 and coming in at Rs 170 crore in 1QFY21. Motilal Oswal Financial Services expects 2.7x FY20 earnings for FY21, primarily led by a doubling of formulation sales, 30 per cent year on year growth in each API and CDMO segment supported with 780 basis points margin expansion.

The brokerage firm remains positive on Laurus Labs on the back of superior execution across revenue segments, resulting in expansion of ROE to 27 per cent (from 15 per cent in FY20) and sufficient levers to sustain the earnings momentum over the medium term.

At 10:23 am, the stock was trading 5 per cent higher at Rs 1,395 on the BSE, as against 0.93 per cent rise in the Sensex. Around 647,000 equity shares were changing hands on the counter on the NSE and BSE.