L&T hits new high ahead of Q3 results; market-cap crosses Rs 2 trillion

Thus far in January, L&T outperformed the market by surging 15% as compared to 7% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) hit a new high of Rs 1,441, up 2% on BSE in intra-day trade, ahead of its October-December 2017 quarter (Q3FY18) earnings on Wednesday, January 31, 2018.

Thus far in January, the stock of engineering & construction major outperformed the market by surging 15% as compared to 7% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A strong rally in L&T stock has seen its market capitalisation (market-cap) crossing Rs 2 trillion today.

At 11:10 AM; L&T with market-cap stood at Rs 2.01 trillion (Rs 200,614 crore), the BSE data shows. L&T stands at 13th rank in overall market-cap ranking ahead of state-owned companies Indian Oil Corporation and Coal India.

Analysts expect strong earnings growth for L&T in Q3FY18. The company announced order intake of Rs 350 billion in Q3FY18 compared to Rs 61 billion in Q3FY17.

Order inflow during the quarter has been supported by large as well as base order finalization. Domestic order wins were supported by order finalization in the hydrocarbon and infrastructure segments. Overseas order finalization was supported by the infrastructure and power segments.

Motilal Oswal Securities expect L&T’s net profit to grow 47% year on year (YoY) to Rs 14.3 billion on revenue growth of 10.1% YoY at Rs 290 billion. Operating profit margin will improve 80bp YoY to 10.4%.

“We expect sales growth of 10% YoY at Rs 289 billion, driven by Infrastructure/Services businesses. The company has guided for a 12% sales growth, 25bps margin improvement and has cut order inflow guidance from 12‐14% to flat to minor improvement in FY18. The new order announcement has been very strong this quarter and stands at around Rs400 billion indicating strong inflow trends for the quarter,” the brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher said in quarterly preview.