BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s Ashok Leyland reported a first-quarter profit that missed estimates on Thursday, as tax expenses weighed down the bus and truck manufacturer more than expected.
The Hinduja Group company’s profit for the April-June quarter fell 8.8% to 5.26 billion rupees (around $63 million). Analysts had expected 5.66 billion rupees, as per LSEG data.
Its profit jumped more than eight-fold last year due to a larger tax credit.
Revenue rose 5% to nearly 86 billion rupees in the June quarter.
KEY CONTEXT
Ashok Leyland is the first to report June-quarter results among commercial vehicle (CV) makers, whose sales are seen as an indicator of economic activity.
India’s CV sales reported a surprise 3.5% growth in the April-June quarter, with Ashok’s 6% rise in dispatches to dealers the most among sector leaders.
The growth was in contrast to most analysts’ and industry experts’ expectation of a fall due to India’s general election.
Larger competitors Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra will report results next week.
PEER COMPARISON
Estimates Analy
(next 12 sts’
months) senti
ment
RIC PE EV/E Revenue Profi Mean # of Stock to Div
BITD growth t ratin analy price yield
A (%) growt g* sts target** (%)
h (%)
Ashok 19. 20.1 7.57 14.15 Buy 31 1.00 2.16
Leyland Ltd 59 0
Tata Motors 14. 6.08 7.92 -11.5 Buy 29 0.93 0.30
Ltd 39 7
Mahindra and 27. 25.8 13.21 12.97 Buy 32 0.94 0.75
Mahindra Ltd 33 8
Eicher 29. 26.2 11.58 12.53 Hold 25 1.07 1.04
Motors Ltd 67 3
* The mean of analysts’ ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The ratio of the stock’s last close to analysts’ mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
52-WEEK STOCK PERFORMANCE
Shares of Ashok Leyland have risen about 26% in the last 52 weeks, the least among its competitors.
($1 = 83.7026 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Janane Venkatraman)
