Hero MotoCorp gains as Q1 margins beat estimates; Macquarie upgrades

Reuters Market Eye - Shares in Hero MotoCorp Ltd gain 4.4 percent after its adjusted operating margins for June-quarter came in at 14.85 percent, higher than estimates of about 13 percent, analysts say.

Hero reported a net profit of 5.49 billion rupees for the three months to end-June, compared with 6.15 billion rupees a year earlier. Net sales fell to 61.27 billion rupees from 62.47 billion rupees.

"Operating profit is appearing substantially higher than expectation as the company has not taken the full impact of increase in raw material cost given company compensates its vendors with a lag of a quarter," said Abhishek Gaoshinde, an analyst tracking the sector at Sunidhi Securities.

 

Also, Macquarie upgrades the stock to "outperform" from "underperform" and raises its target price to 1,960 rupee from 1,250 rupees, citing attractive valuations.

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi)