Indian equities had a dream run last week, with the benchmark indices gaining over a per cent in the last five trading sessions. As always, several stocks beat the market returns by a wide margin, thanks to a sudden surge of investor interest in them.
Topping last week’s winners’ list is the stock of online travel service provider Easy Trip Planners (Easemytrip), which made a neat 43 per cent gain in the last five trading sessions. The company announced a stock split(2:1) and bonus in the ratio of 3:1 on October 11. Though it did not react much to the bonus announcement about 6 weeks back, its price surged suddenly about a day prior to its record date, fuelling suspicion of speculative trade in the stock. This has also caught the attention of the market regulator SEBI.
The additional shares will be allotted by or on December 8. The company reported revenue growth of over 82 per cent to Rs 104 crore in the September 2022 quarter, compared to the same period last year. Operating profit and net profit grew 12 per cent and 15 per cent respectively in the September 2022 quarter, compared to the previous year. The stock currently trades at 88 times its trailing 12-month earnings.
Ranking second in the gainers’ list is the UCO Bank stock,which has gained 30 per cent in nearly five trading sessions. A bulk deal to the extent of 37.3 lakh shares boosted the stock price. There has been a significant surge in trading volume in the stock.
The company reported a stellar performance in the last quarter, with net profit more than doubling to Rs 505 crore, compared with Rs 205 crore in the September 2021 quarter, and net interest income up 10 per cent at Rs 1,769 crore (Rs 1,598 crore) in the same period. The stock currently trades at about 1.05 times its book value.
The Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) stock was the third largest gainer, moving up 24 per cent last week. News of a potential divestment of Government stake in the company triggered a strong rally in the stock. A miniratna company, RCF is into both urea and phosphatic fertilisers, besides bio-fertilisers and micronutrients. The company is also among the leading producers of industrial chemicals, such as methanol, methylamines, nitric acid (strong, weak, and concentrated), ammonia manufacture of dyes, solvents, leather, pharmaceuticals, and a host of other industrial products.
The company reported strong performance in the September 2022 quarter, with Y-o-Y revenue and net profit growth of 113 per cent and 122 per cent, respectively. Institutional investor interest in the stock has increased over the last three quarters, with foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) raising their stake in the last three quarters – FIIs from 1.57 per cent to 3.07 per cent in March-September 2022 and DIIs from 0.3 to 0.66 per cent over the same period. The stock currently trades at seven times its trailing 12-month earnings.