Larsen & Toubro gains nearly 3% as hydrocarbon business wins mega contract

Shares of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) moved higher by nearly 3 per cent to Rs 2,228.90 on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade after the company announced it won mega orders for its hydrocarbon business.

The engineering and construction company, however, did not provide the exact value of the contract, but specified that as per its classification, a mega project is of over Rs 7,000 crore.

“The Hydrocarbon Business (L&T Energy Hydrocarbon – LTEH) of L&T has recently secured multiple offshore packages from a prestigious client in the Middle East,” the company said in press release.

The scope of work comprises engineering, procurement, construction & installation for various new offshore facilities and integration with existing installations, the company said.

Thus far in the current calendar year 2023, L&T has outperformed the market by surging 6.5 per cent, as compared to 2.7 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 2,297.30 on January 20, 2023.

L&T primarily operates in infrastructure, heavy engineering, defence engineering, power, hydrocarbon, services business segments. Infrastructure segment contributes around 45 per cent to consolidated revenue followed by services (around 30 per cent).

As part of its five-year strategic plan ‘Lakshya 26’ the company is looking to divest its investment in non-core areas, which includes road concessions and power business and minimising its stake in Hyderabad Metro. Under the strategic plan, the company plans to focus on green energy, cell and battery manufacturing, the development of data centres, tech education, and B2B e-commerce in the coming years.

The Hyderabad metro saw ridership improving to 394k per day from 355k in Q2FY23. As of December 2022, L&T received Rs 100 crore in the form of state government assistance from the Telangana government with another Rs 900 crore expected in Q4FY23, HDFC Securities said in Q3 result update.

Given the record-high order book (OB) of Rs 3.9 trillion, bottoming out of infra margins; and the improving health of the Hyderabad metro project, the brokerage firm maintain BUY with an increased target price  to Rs 2,432/share (22x core Dec-24 EPS).

Technical View

Bias: Rangebound

Indicative Range: Rs 2,140 - Rs 2,260

Support: Rs 2,170

Resistance: Rs 2,225

Shares of Larsen & Toubro have been trading in a rangebound manner since the start of the calendar year 2023. The stock has broadly taken support around its 100-DMA (Daily Moving Average) and face resistance around its trend line, thus indicating a trading range of Rs 2,140 - Rs 2,260.

In the interim, the stock faces some resistance around the higher-end of the Bollinger Bands on the daily chart at Rs 2,225, whereas support can be expected around the 20-DMA at Rs 2,170.

On the weekly scale too resistance for the stock is seen at Rs 2,260. 

(With inputs from Rex Cano)