BPCL jumps after brokerage upgrade

BPCL rose 4.10% to Rs 828.50 at 11:17 IST on BSE after a foreign brokerage upgraded the stock to "buy" from "neutral".

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 134.46 points, or 0.47%, to 28,651.05.

On BSE, so far 78,000 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 1.23 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 831.60 so far during the day, which is also a record high for the counter. The stock hit a low of Rs 791.50 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 432 on 16 April 2014.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 7 April 2015, rising 2.66% compared with 3.17% decline in the Sensex. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 23.21% as against Sensex's 5.97% rise.

The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 723.08 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The brokerage said that BPCL has the best marketing and refinery operations, the least debt, and offers superior ROE (return on equity). The brokerage, however, warned that diesel-price deregulation has given rise to too much optimism.

BPCL reported net profit of Rs 551.16 crore in Q3 December 2014 compared with net loss of Rs 1088.94 crore in Q3 December 2013. Net sales declined 10.6% to Rs 57872.82 crore in Q3 December 2014 over Q3 December 2013.

The Government of India held 54.93% stake BPCL (as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 December 2014).

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