As MRF stock outperforms, margin worries may go up; valuation as well

The MRF stock gained 35 per cent over the last three months as falling raw material prices, steady replacement segment growth, and restrictions on imports from China helped boost revenues and margins.
 
The recent trigger for the stock was a better-than-expected operating performance in the September quarter. Aided by a 370 basis points dip in raw material costs as a proportion of sales, margins hit a 16-quarter high. They came in at 20.4 per cent, up 670 basis points YoY.
 
Though the company underperformed some of its peers on the revenue front (6 per cent growth) given the