Mahanagar Gas Shares Climb 8% as Brokerages Give Thumbs-up to Q2 Results

Mahanagar Gas Ltd shares climbed as much as 8% in intra-day trade after the company posted solid set of numbers for the second quarter ended September (Q2), triggering analyst upgrades.

At 2:55 pm, shares of Mahangar Gas were trading at Rs 1,010 apiece, up 4.2%, after hitting the day’s high of Rs 1,046.65. Notably, the stock has risen over 18% in the past one year.

After trading hours on Monday, Mahanagar Gas announced that net profit jumped by a massive 98.6% year-on-year to Rs 270.62 crore in the September quarter, while net sales increased 12.5% to Rs 783.58 crore.

The jump in profit can be partially attributed to a 39% fall in total tax expenses fell to Rs 41.58 crore in the September quarter compared with a year ago.

After the earnings, Citi gave a ‘buy’ rating on the stock, raising the target price to Rs 1,135 from Rs 1,100 earlier, implying 17% upside from its previous close. The brokerage firm increased earnings per share (EPS) estimates by 11-25% to factor in the lower tax rate.

Jefferies also maintained a buy rating, but lowered its price target to Rs 1,180 from Rs 1,210 on concerns that price cut in gas prices may result in margin compression.

The company’s CNG sales volume stood at 399.51 SCM (standard cubic meter) million for the six months ended September 2019, up by 1.5% compared with the year-ago period, whereas total PNG sales volumes rose 4.5% to 146.51 SCM million during the first half of the year.