JSW Steel: Ahead of estimates in Q2 despite cost pressures; stock up 0.4%

Expansions, acquisitions and backward integration to drive future earnings

JSW Steel’s better than expected performance in seasonally weak quarter and amid cost pressures lifted street sentiment. On a day when markets were down by a per cent, JSW’s stock closed 0.4 per cent higher. What’s more, the outlook remains healthy.

Even though construction activities remained soft during the September 2018 quarter (Q2) impacted by monsoon, the company’s steel sales grew a per cent year-on-year and three per cent sequentially to 3.96 million tonne (MT). Despite some softness in prices of long steel, which is used in construction (down about 5 per cent sequentially) and flat products (used for manufacturing