The move to demerge the hotel business into a separate entity by ITC has brought back focus on hotel stocks, which have already seen a good run thus far in FY24.
The FMCG index has breached previous reversal support, igniting fear of caution among retail traders. This move emerged after the index reached a new historic peak a few sessions ago.
The move may improve ITC's ROCE by 2,000 bps
The demerger will however have only a marginal negative impact on ITC overall earnings and share price given the hotel division miniscule contribution to its consolidated finances
While the medium-term outlook remains highly optimistic, the stock may remain choppy in the near-term
Thus far in calendar year 2023, the share price of ITC has appreciated by 48 per cent, while HUL's stock price has gained 1.3 per cent and the Sensex 8.8 per cent, respectively.
At ITC, the number of crorepati employees jumped by 36 per cent year-on-year to 257 in FY23 from 189 in the previous year. In HUL, 205 managers earned more than Rs 1 crore in annual salary in FY23
Analysts at Jefferies beleive the stock could top the Rs 600-mark, an upside of over 34 per cent from current levels
Shakti Bhog food which has defaulted on Rs 7,000 crore of bank loans
Analysts raised their cigarette volumes growth estimate for FY24E considering market share gains from illicit cigarettes as well as strong growth in high price cigarettes.
Thus far in the calendar year 2023, the stock has outperformed the market by surging 25 per cent, as compared to 0.55 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex.
The ITC stock closed at Rs 419.65 on the BSE, down 1.87 per cent
The FMCG index has risen 10 per cent since the start of the current year, with ITC, Nestle India, Radico Khaitan, and Varun Beverages zoomed 31 per cent, 12 per cent, 11 per cent and 10 per cent each
Thus far in calendar year 2023, ITC surpassed Infosys, HDFC, SBI, Bharti Airtel, Adani Enterprises and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in market-cap ranking.
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FPIs have increased their stake in ITC for the third straight quarter to 12.87 per cent at the end of March 2023 quarter.
FMCG stocks may rise up to 17% once the index hits a new all-time high
The consistent good growth in the cigarette business, strong tailwinds in the hotel business and scale-up in non-cigarette FMCG business makes its earning visibility better compared with peers.
Selective FMCG stocks may rise up to 11 per cent, even if broader market loses more ground
The FMCG index too was seen outperforming the BSE benchmark in Thursday trade with a gain of nearly 1 per cent.