Shares of state-owned oil refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp fell nearly 4 per cent to Rs 414.50 as the second-quarter net profit fell short of analysts' estimates.
The company had on Thursday reported a net profit of ₹1,735 crore for the September quarter, more than double that of ₹701-crore in the year-ago period. HPCL attributed the increase in profit to higher crude throughput, better refinery margins, higher domestic market sales and inventory gains.
“HPCL's Q2 net profit was 22 per cent below Jefferies estimates,” Jefferies analysts wrote in a note.
Realised refining margins were $0.50 lower than the estimates but much of the miss came from the apparent fall in non-auto marketing margins, according to Jefferies.
The brokerage has cut stock's price target to Rs 385 from Rs 400. It has maintained “underperform” rating.
Nineteen of 37 brokerages have rated the stock as “buy” or higher, seven “hold” and 11 “sell” or lower; their median price target is Rs 442.33, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon data.
The stock was on track for a third straight session of losses.
The public sector oil refiner-cum-retailer had reported a net profit of ₹924.75 crore for the first quarter of financial year 2017-2018. This is less than half of the ₹2,098-crore net profit reported for the corresponding quarter of the last financial year. The plunge in bottom-line was because of a ₹1,595-crore hit due to inventory loss.
(With inputs from Reuters)