ITC gains after brokerage upgrade

ITC rose 3.20% to Rs 335.85 at 14:48 IST on BSE after a foreign brokerage upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral, while maintaining its target price of Rs 400 per share, citing prospects of earnings growth resilience.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 222.31 points, or 1.18%, to 19,011.65.

On BSE, 3.75 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against an average daily volume of 5.72 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 337.35 and a low of Rs 325.10 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 380 on 24 July 2013. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 251.10 on 17 September 2012.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 8 August 2013, sliding 6.17% compared with the Sensex's 2.77% fall. The scrip had, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 5.06% as against Sensex's 6.01% fall.

India's largest cigarette maker by sales has an equity capital of Rs 790.79 crore. Face value per share is Re 1.

ITC's net profit rose 18.05% to Rs 1891.33 crore on 10.72% growth in total income to Rs 7613.88 crore in Q1 June 2013 over Q1 June 2012.

ITC has a diversified presence in cigarettes, hotels, paperboards & specialty papers, packaging, agri-business, packaged foods & confectionery, information technology, branded apparel, personal care, stationery and other FMCG products. ITC is a market leader in cigarettes.

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