More hits than misses spur most upgrades in six quarters, shows data

The Street is now expecting Nifty earnings per share (EPS) of around Rs 980 in FY24 and Rs 1,130 in FY25

More companies managed to surpass analysts’ estimates during the March 2023 quarter of the 2022-23 financial year (Q4FY23) – spurring the best percentage of upgrades vis-à-vis downgrades since Q2FY22.

“Of the 63 March 2023 quarter results we analysed from our coverage universe, 49 per cent came above analyst estimates, highest in four quarters, while 37 per cent came below. The remaining 14 per cent were in line. Earnings upgrades (at 49 per cent) were the same as earnings downgrades (49 per cent); though upgrade percentage is highest in the past six quarters,” said Jefferies in a note.

However, due to disappointing results by IT majors, the projected Nifty50 earnings for FY24 and FY25 got scaled back slightly. “Nifty50 consensus earnings for FY24/25 have seen change of -1.1 per cent/-1.2 per cent during the results season. On the year-to-date basis, earnings are flat thus far and bulk of the cuts seem driven by the large tech companies and RIL,” the Jefferies note added. The Street is now expecting Nifty50 earnings per share (EPS) of around ~980 in FY24 and Rs 1,130 in FY25.