Lupin dips on profit booking

Lupin has dipped 2.4% at Rs 965, falling nearly 6% from its record high of Rs 1,023 touched on the NSE on Wednesday, on profit booking.

The pharmaceutical company has reported a 35% year-on-year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 550 crore during the quarter ended March 2014 (Q4FY2014) on account of strong operating performance. During the quarter, the company posted a revenue growth of 20% yoy at Rs 3,052 crore mainly driven by exports.

The growth in exports was led by the US, which grew by 28% yoy, and the rest of world, which grew by 38% yoy respectively. Other markets such as Europe and Japan grew by 20% yoy and 17% yoy respectively.

On the operating profit margin (OPM) front, the company posted margin expansion of 270 basis points to 28.7% mainly on back of gross margin expansion, which came in at 67.9% in Q4FY2014.

Analysts remain positive on Lupin on the back of a strong pipeline of complex generics, opthalmics and dermatology.

Angel Broking has maintained an 'Accumulate' rating on the stock, with a target price of Rs 1,122.

Abhishek Singhal, an equity analyst at Macquarie Research, has raised rating on the stock to 'Outperform' from 'Neutral', with a 12-month target price at Rs 1,100 per share, the Bloomberg report suggests.

Meanwhile, the stock has outperformed the market by surging 39% in the past one year compared to a 12% rise in benchmark CNX Nifty, as of Thursday.