Near term margins may remain subdued for Astral, high valuation weighs

The company underperformed peers on the volume front in Q2, though margin impact was lower given value-added mix

The stock of the country's largest plastic pipe maker by market capitalisation, Astral shed 6.7 per cent over the last three trading sessions as brokerages cut their earnings estimates on the back of weak volumes and margin miss in the September quarter. Brokerages believe that the softening polyvinyl chloride (PVC) prices are expected to impact its margins in the December quarter as well.

Consolidated revenues fell 2 per cent YoY and was dragged down by the plumbing segment (72 per cent of revenues) which fell 11 per cent. The company underperformed its peers on the volume front posting a 4