M&M market shr in UVs may dip; Kotak cuts growth forecast

Moneycontrol Bureau

Brokerage house Kotak Securities has trimmed its earnings estimates for Mahindra & Mahindra, while retaining its "add" rating on the stock, saying upcoming utility vehicle launches could eat into its market share. "We expect M&M to lose 500 bps market share over the next two years due to aggressive launches by competitors, notably the Ford Ecosport (May 2013), Nissan SUV (4QFY14) and Maruti’s SUV (4QFY14). M&M does not have a major launch in FY2014 and is likely to come out with an all-new Scorpio only in FY2015," said the Kotak note. "We have cut our domestic UV/SUV segment volumes by 4-6 percent and our average selling prices by 3-4 percent to factor higher discounts and an inferior product mix in the UV segment. We have thus reduced our EBITDA estimates by 5-10 percent over FY2013-15," the note said.