ITC trading higher for third straight day; stock up 6% in three days

Shares of ITC were up 4% at Rs 278 per share on the BSE on Wednesday, trading higher for the third straight trading day, on back of heavy volumes.
In past three days, the stock outperformed the market by gaining 6.5% from Rs 261 on Friday, April 13, 2018. On comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.83% during the same period. ITC was trading close to its 52-week low of Rs 250 touched on November 15, 2017.

The trading volumes on the counter nearly doubled with a combined 11.37 million shares changed hands on the BSE and NSE till 12:12 pm.

Analyst at IIFL Institutional Equities expects ITC’s FMCG and hotel business would do well in January-March quarter (Q4F18), driven by a slight improvement in the consumption environment.

“We expect volume decline to moderate to 2% from around 4% in the previous quarter. Pricing growth (including mix) should also moderate to around 8% from around 12% in Q3, with no price hikes during the quarter. Notably, there was no excise or cessrate hikes announced during the budget or in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council meet. Cigarette Pbit (profit before interest and tax) would grow at 8%,” the brokerage firms said in Q4FY18 results preview.