Bajaj Finance joins Rs 2-trillion m-cap club; stock zooms 105% in 14 months

The company recorded a strong 57 per cent YoY growth in net profit at Rs 1,176 crore in March quarter, while net interest income, or NII, grew 50 per cent at Rs 3,394 crore on YoY basis

Bajaj Finance entered the elite club of companies with a market capitalisation (market-cap) of Rs 2 trillion after the company's stock price hit a new high on the BSE in intra-day trade on Tuesday.

The stock hit a new high of Rs 3,485, up 2.3 per cent on the BSE. At 09:53 am; Bajaj Finance's market-cap stood at Rs 2.01 trillion, the exchange data shows.

Currently, Bajaj Finance, is at the 14th position in terms of overall market-cap ranking and companies having market-cap of over Rs 2-trillion.

In the past 14 months, Bajaj Finance's stock has more-than-doubled from the level of Rs 1,702 on the BSE. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 19 per cent during the same period.

The non-banking finance company recorded a strong 57 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in net profit at Rs 1,176 crore in March quarter. The company’s net interest income, or NII, grew 50 per cent at Rs 3,394 crore on YoY basis. Analysts, on an average, had expected profit of Rs 1,062 crore and NII of Rs 3,271 crore for the quarter.

Bajaj Finance's assets under management (AUM) rose 41 per cent to Rs 1.16 trillion, against analysts' expectations of 40 per cent over the year-ago period.

Analysts at Dolat Capital maintain ‘accumulate’ rating on the stock with target price of Rs 3,700 per share.

“While there is a risk of slowing consumption (and lower economic growth), we believe that its market position; inability of competitors to replicate its scale and model; consolidation among smaller players, given the funding constraints; and growth from expansion of customer breadth and width; is expected to help it maintain growth momentum in the short to medium term (factored CAGR 40 per cent growth in AUM),” the brokerage firm said in result update.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley believe Bajaj Finance has the capacity to sustain 25 per cent plus loan growth over the next three to five years, despite the high base.

The company has a high-growth model with multiple growth drivers and a management strong on execution; also, it is resilient to the near-term cyclical slowdown. The strong run-up in the stock and elevated valuations do pose a risk, but underlying fundamentals support those rich valuations, in our view, the brokerage firm said with ‘overweight’ rating on the stock and target price of Rs 3,500 per share.

Thus far in the current calendar year 2019, Bajaj Finance has rallied 32 per cent, as compared to a 9 per cent gain in the S&P BSE Sensex. In the previous entire calendar year 2018, the stock had zoomed 50 per cent, against 6 per cent rise in the benchmark index.

Interestingly, the market price of Bajaj Finance, had more-than-doubled, rising 121 per cent and 408 per cent in 2014 and 2009, respectively.