The terrific four

It is that time of the year when even though my wife may be purring 'Darling, I lovvvve you', I am so smitten by some quarterly corporate numbers that after some time I turn to ask, 'Were you saying something?'

The wife has competition.

The JK Rowling Award for Taking Your Breath Away to Alembic Pharma: This has to be the mother of all performance improvements. The company reported Rs 283 crore post-tax in 2014-15 (full year) and Rs 289 crore in the second quarter of the current financial year. I read the results a few times looking for typos. I couldn't find one. Tax outgo quadrupled across successive quarters in this current financial year, so, I presume this is not the handiwork of a sleepy proofreader. I am beginning to fantasise…'multiply by four' kind of thing that every cardiac specialist needs to caution against.

The Maya Angelou Award for Giving it Back to the Analysts to JK Tyres: The more I see this company, the more I am besotted. For months, the tyre sector has been complaining of Chinese dumping and the need for corresponding tariff protection. JK Tyres is sure weakening the sector's case. Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) increased from Rs 301 crore in the first quarter of 2015-16 to Rs 312 crore in the second; interest cover strengthened from 4.7 to 5.3 (interest outflow declined by Rs 5 crore). Net profit increased from Rs 132 crore in the first half of 2014-15 to Rs 236 crore (after Rs 40 crore of exceptional deductions) in the corresponding period of this financial year. Even if status quo continues, it is a no-brainer that the company would generate more than Rs 650 crore in cash - against a market capitalisation of Rs 2,300 crore. The company needs a good investor relations firm to market its story.

The Louisa May Alcott Award for Looking Within to Realise One's Worth to KEC International: What do you say about a company that has more than quadrupled its pre-tax profit when you compare its first half to the first half of previous year? That has moderated its interest cost by Rs 17 crore across the comparable halves even as turnovers have been relatively steady (profitable orders kicking in!). And to think that the big transmission boom is round the corner (even my mother-in-law says so).

The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for Being Consistently Rejected before Acceptance to Cosmo Films: This company is not exactly your pensioner's balm (the volatility!), but catching it on the rebound could be a skateboarder's orgasm. Consider this. It earned a mere Rs 8.34 crore in the first half of 2014-15, which increased to a little more than Rs 19 crore in the second half of that year, which strengthened to Rs 39 crore in the first half of this financial year. The management must keep praying the consumer demand continues to increase even as the price of crude continues to decline. Sweet spot.

Author's note. Recipient companies who do not like my face or writing style are advised that returning their award will neither get them media space nor raised market capitalisation.
The author is a stock market writer, tracking corporate earnings and investor psychology to gauge where markets are not headed