ITC shares gave flat returns in 2024: Price targets, outlook, technicals and more 

Shares of ITC have delivered a meagre 2% returns to its shareholders in 2024. The trend is not different either when it clocked 9% growth in a year. However, the FMCG stock has reported a 20% rise from its 52-week low of Rs 399.30 reached on March 12 this year. ITC stock gained 0.33% to Rs 476.75 in the afternoon session on BSE today. Total 1.85 lakh shares of the FMCG firm changed hands amounting to a turnover of Rs 8.88 crore. Market cap of the firm climbed to Rs 5.95 lakh crore.

ICICI Securities has termed ITC as one of its large cap picks. 

"Cigarettes volume growth trajectory continues to be stable at 3% despite calibrated price hikes to navigate cost inflation and consumer demand being under pressure. ITC continues to benefit from market share gains for organised players from the illicit cigarettes industry due to: 1) strong deterrent actions by enforcement agencies, leading to significant increase in seizures of illicit cigarettes; and 2) stability in taxes on cigarettes. FMCG had a resilient performance while margins are under pressure due to commodity inflation," said the brokerage.

Centrum Broking has a price target of Rs 583 on the ITC stock.

"We argued in our Thematic report that with strong operating leverage and improved productmix, FMCG segment to deliver 12.7% EBITDA margin exit FY25E. We have tweaked our earnings and retain BUY with a revised DCF-based TP of Rs583 (implying 31.6x Sept’FY27E EPS)," said Centrum Broking.

 Similarly, international brokerage Jefferies is also bullish on the ITC stock with a buy call and a  price target of Rs 585.

The brokerage expects ITC's FMCG revenue to accelerate in financial year 2025, while expecting its Earnings Per Share (EPS) to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10%.

Jefferies said that this is lower than its peers, it is reasonable. ITC's valuations are in-line with its pre-Covid history.

ITC stock has a one-year beta of 0.7, indicating very low volatility during the period. In terms of technicals, the relative strength index (RSI) of ITC stock stands at 45.7, signaling it's trading neither in the oversold nor in the overbought zone. ITC shares are trading higher than the 5 day, 10 day, 20 day, 200 day but lower than the 30 day, 50 day and 100 day moving averages.

ITC clocked a 3.1% year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit for the second quarter of the FY25 at Rs 5,078.3 crore compared to Rs 4,927 crore, in the same quarter last year. Total revenue for the July-September quarter was at Rs 19,327.8 crore, up 16.8 percent YoY from Rs 16,550 crore in the year-ago quarter driven by agri business and hotels, the company said in a regulatory filing.