Escorts share price rose to an all-time high in morning session amid broader volatile market movement today. Share price of Escorts rose 8% to Rs 1,047 against previous close of Rs 970.55 on BSE. The engineering firm's stock has gained after 2 days of consecutive fall. Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala held 91 lakh shares or 7.42% stake in Escorts at the end of March quarter. Jhunjhunwala first bought 50 lakh shares of the company in the September 2013 quarter.
High tractor sales in May, propects of a good monsoon and better than expected Q4 earnings this year have took the Escorts share price to a record high in three months.
On March 23, 2020, Escorts stock closed at Rs 551.30 on BSE. Since then, the stock has gained 90% till date.
"The IMD's (India Meteorological Department's) second forecast of a well-spread normal monsoon, along with healthy reservoir levels, is likely to help sustain the momentum in agri-related investment," JM Financial Institutional Securities Ltd said in a note on June 2.
"We believe the tractor segment should be the key beneficiary of rabi harvests, high government procurement of wheat, expectations of normal a monsoon and the sharp 70% jump in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act allocation by the government. Thus, we see upside risks to our tractor industry volume estimates of -15%/+25% in FY21/22F," Nomura Research said in a note on 2 June.
In May, the firm reported a rise in sale of tractors.
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"Escorts Agri Machinery Segment (EAM) in May 2020 sold 6,594 tractors against 6,827 tractors sold in May 2019. Export for the month of May 2020 at 140 tractors as against 339 tractors sold in May 2019," Escorts said in a press release.
"Tractor industry volumes are expected to recover sooner than other segments, led by pent-up demand and positive rural sentiment, owing to healthy Rabi output and expectations of good monsoon. Channel checks indicate expectations of a single-digit decline in FY21," analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services said in sector update.
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Market cap of the firm rose to Rs 12,515 crore in trading session. The stock is trading higher than 5 day, 20 day, 50 day, 100 day and 200 day moving averages. Escorts share has gained 84.7% in one year and risen 62% since the beginning of this year. In one month, the stock has gained 12%. Total 1.53 lakh shares changed hands amounting to turnover of Rs 15.63 crore on BSE.
The stock hit its 52-week low of Rs 423.30 on August 23, 2019.
Escorts reported a 9.71 per cent rise in Q4 net profit at Rs 127.73 crore against Rs 116.42 crore profit in January-March period of 2018-19. The earnings were announced on May 14. Since then, the share has risen 32% till date.
Total income of the company fell to Rs 1,415.95 crore during the fourth quarter against Rs 1,668.72 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. For the full 2019-20 fiscal, the company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 471.7 crore compared with Rs 477.9 crore in 2018-19. Total income for 2019-20 fiscal stood at Rs 5,907.69 crore against Rs 6,354.42 crore in 2018-19.
Apart from Jhujhunwala, 28 mutual funds held 1.21 crore shares amounting to 9.94% stake for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. 198 foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) held 23.63 crore shares amounting to 19.28% stake in Q4. 23 financial institutions and banks held 8,565 shares during the same period.
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