Pharma shares in demand

Aurobindo, Shasun Pharma, Sun Pharma, Biocon, Ipca Lab, Ranbaxy, Wockhardt and Cipla are up 2-6% on BSE.

Shares of pharmaceutical companies are in demand and trading higher by up to 6% on the bourses.

Aurobindo Pharma, Shasun Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Dishman Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals, Biocon, Ipca Laboratories, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Claris Lifesciences, Wockhardt and Cipla are up 2-6% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The BSE Healthcare index, the largest gainer among sectoral indices, was up 2% compared to 0.46% rise in benchmark S&P BSE Sensex at 1153 hours.

The pharmaceutical companies so far declared their December quarter earnings, have reported strong net profit growth.

Ipca Laboratories has rallied nearly 5% to Rs 834, also its record high in early morning deals on the BSE. The drug maker has posted a strong 58% year-on-year (yoy) jump in its net profit at Rs 139 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013 (Q3FY14). The company had a net profit of Rs 88 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

Analyst expects pharmaceutical companies to continue reporting a good set of numbers.

Excluding Cipla (for which corresponding consolidated figures are not available for Q3FY2013), we expect a strong 41.7% yoy growth in earnings during the quarter supported by expansion of 17.6% yoy in revenue and 242bp yoy in margin performance, says analyst at Angel Broking in results preview.

The strong performance of exports in the sector has also contributed to top-line growth. We expect Sensex pharmaceutical companies to post a 27.5% yoy top-line growth and margin expansion of 296bp yoy, resulting in a robust 43.9% yoy increase in the bottom-line, he adds.