Maruti Suzuki stock hits 10,000 mark for first time, joins Rs 3-trillion market capitalisation club

The Maruti Suzuki stock hit the 10,000 mark for the first time ever on BSE today. The stock's market capitalisation also crossed Rs 3 lakh crore mark in early morning trade. The stock is on a bull run since the beginning of this year, rising 86 percent or 4,593 points. On an yearly basis, it has gained 94 percent or 4,831 points.

The stock, which was the top gainer on Sensex, rose 5.82 percent yesterday.  The stock opened at 9,970 level and hit an intra day low of 9,861 on the BSE.  On Tuesday, the stock rose over 5 percent, helping the auto major break into the top-five league of most valuable companies with a market valuation of Rs 2.96 lakh crore.

The largest automobile player in the Indian market has now a market share of 50.4 per cent, up from 47.3 per cent last year.  The Maruti Suzuki stock, which is among the most expensive auto shares, has seen analysts and brokerages setting new price targets for the next year.

Also read: Why Maruti Suzuki is among key stocks to watch out for in 2018

Strong sales volume of Vitara Brezza, Baleno, Ciaz, and new Dzire, fresh capacity addition from Gujarat facility and rise in rural demand has made brokerages raise their outlook on the stock. Morgan Stanley has raised its target price to Rs 10,563 from Rs 9,102 per share, denoting a 16.8 per cent potential upside from Friday's closing price.

"Maruti is a key beneficiary of coming turn in demand. Suzuki-Toyota alliance will help set Maruti up for electric vehicles," it said.

In case of bullish market conditions, the stock could even reach Rs 14,400, a potential upside of 60 percent over its Friday's closing price, the research house said. This is the highest price target set by any brokerage tracking the stock, Bloomberg data showed.

Also read: Tata Motors, Honda, Toyota, Skoda to hike car prices from January

Currently, Maruti is only behind market heavyweight Reliance Industries, TCS, HDFC Bank and ITC in terms of market capitalisation. The carmaker accounts for about half of all cars sold in India.

The stock has a price to earnings ratio of 39.43 and clocked a 30 day average volume of 527096.

For the quarter ending September, total vehicle sales rose about 18 percent to 492,118 units. Net sales rose 21.8 per cent to Rs 21,438.1 crore in Q2, as against Rs 20,048.6 crore a year ago, the firm said. During July-September period, the company sold a total of 4,92,118 vehicles, including 34,717 in overseas markets, a growth of 17.6 per cent over the same period a year ago.

For the quarter ending September 2017, Maruti Suzuki India, reported a 3.4 per cent rise in its Q2 net profit at Rs 2,484.3 crore, beating analysts' estimates. The company, majority owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, reported a net profit of Rs 2,402 crore in the corresponding quarter an year ago.

Maruti is engaged in the manufacture, purchase and sale of motor vehicles, components and spare parts (automobiles). The company's product portfolio includes Alto 800, Alto K10, Wagon R, Celerio, Ritz, Swift, DZire, Ertiga, Omni, Eeco, Gypsy and Ciaz.