Just Dial tumbles on reports of brokerage downgrade

Just Dial fell 4.46% to Rs 874.95 at 14:16 IST on BSE on reports a foreign brokerage has downgraded the stock to 'sell'.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 100.07 points, or 0.38%, to 26,017.78.

On BSE, so far 99,000 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 1.24 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 891.80 and a low of Rs 863 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,631.70 on 28 January 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 741.10 on 9 November 2015.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 2 December 2015, rising 14.47% compared with 1.66% decline in the Sensex. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 7.20% as against Sensex's 2.61% rise.

The mid-cap local search engine company has an equity capital of Rs 70.52 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

According to reports, the brokerage is worried about Search Plus (SP) execution risks and expects core search revenue growth to decelerate to 19% during the period from FY 2015 (year ending 31 March 2015) to FY 2018 (year ending 31 March 2018) due to inadequate investments in the past and rising competition. Successful execution of SP platform would be key to sustainability of core search business and will require significant incremental investments, according to the brokerage. The brokerage has also reportedly pointed out that the company may have to incur higher expenses to maintain growth, posing risks to street earnings per share (EPS) estimates.

Meanwhile, Just Dial is planning to spend to Rs 164.50 crore in buying back shares from shareholders. The record date for the buyback of equity shares is fixed on 4 December 2015. It will buyback up to 10.61 lakh fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each at a price of Rs 1,550 per equity share.

Just Dial's net profit rose 47% to Rs 46.30 crore on 16.2% growth in net sales to Rs 171.27 crore in Q2 September 2015 over Q2 September 2014.

Just Dial started offering local search services in 1996 under the Just Dial brand and is now the leading local search engine in India.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News