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As many as five Nifty companies including HCL Technologies, Axis Bank, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, and Bajaj Finserv announced their financial results on Tuesday for the quarter ended December 2018.
While private sector lender Axis Bank reported over two-fold rise in net profit to Rs 1,680.85 crore, NBFC Bajaj Finance Ltd reported 54 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,060 crore -- the highest ever quarterly profit -- for the third quarter ended December, 2018.
CLSA maintained ‘buy’ on Axis Bank with a revised target price of Rs 840 from Rs 800 earlier.
It said that strong topline supported operating profit of Axis Bank.
Slippage stood a tad higher but recoveries remained stronger.
Improvement in return on equity and a stable earnings rise will be key to a further re-rating.
Macquarie also hiked target price for Axis Bank to Rs 620 from Rs 540 earlier.
Axis Bank shares hit a new all-time high of Rs 703 in the morning trade, while Bajaj Finance was 2.41 per cent up at Rs 2572.35 at around 9.50 am (IST).
Software services major HCL Technologies posted a 19 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,611 crore during the December 2018 quarter.
The scrip was trading 2.51 per cent higher at Rs 1012.95 in the morning trade.
Credit Suisse has ‘outperform’ rating on HCL Technologies with a target price of Rs 1,350 (Rs 1,275 earlier).
Domestic brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher maintained ‘accumulate’ rating on HCL Tech with a revised target price of Rs 1,170 from Rs 1,100 earlier.
Prabhudas Lilladher added that dollar revenue growth guidance was downgraded to 7.9-9.9 per cent owing to cross currency headwinds.
However, valuations remained cheap for HCL Technologies.
Bajaj Finserv posted 16 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit to Rs 851 crore.
The share was trading 1.50 per cent up at Rs 6,323 in the morning.
According to ICICdirect, Bajaj Finance shows continued growth momentum and earnings growth.
However, asset quality witnessed slight pressure with slippages coming in higher.
Overall headline NPA numbers are still under control.
Bajaj Finserv delivered healthy performance in terms of topline.
However, lower profitability in insurance business (both life and general insurance) kept overall earnings flat YoY and lower compared to the brokerage estimate.
Housing finance company HDFC registered a profit of Rs 2,113.80 crore on a standalone basis in Q3FY19.
It had posted a net profit of Rs 5,300 crore in the October-December quarter of last financial year.
The profit numbers for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 are not comparable with that of the quarter ended December 31, 2017, HDFC Ltd said in a statement.
Global brokerage firm CLSA maintained ‘buy’ on HDFC with a price target of Rs 2,360.
On the other hand, Macquarie retained ‘outperform’ call and revised price target upward to Rs 2,400 from Rs 2,050.
Loan growth slowed down from 17 per cent to 15 per cent due to corporate book.
The minor blip in asset quality was driven by non-individual loan book.
There was not much impact of the liquidity crisis in the NBFC sector, Macquarie said.
Shares of HDFC were trading 1.03 per cent down at Rs 1,899.
On the other hand, the benchmark BSE Sensex was up 116 points, or 0.33 per cent at Rs 35,708.
