Coal India Q4 net seen up 5%, e-auction volume key: Poll

Coal India is expected to announce March quarter earnings on May 28. The PSU is likely to post net profit of Rs 4640 crore in Q4FY15 up 4.6 percent from Rs 5107 crore in the year-ago period. According to a CNBC-TV18 poll, net sales is likely to be marginally higher by 3 percent at Rs 20600 crore compared to Rs  Rs 19,998 crore year-on-year (Y-o-Y).

Operating profit is seen at Rs 5450 crore, up 6.7 percent against Rs 5107 crore (Y-o-Y) while operating profit margin may come in at 26.5 percent versus 25.5 percent on yearly basis.

Analysts polled by CNBC-TV18 say e-auction volume will be the key this quarter. The street is expecting it in the range of 10 metric tonne to 18 mt in Q4FY15 versus 5.6mt in Q3FY15 and 16.8mt in Q4FY14. e-auction volumes will be driven by the removal of overhang of e-auction caps.

Higher sales volumes and potentially higher e-auction volumes may drive increase in EBITDA margins.

Key issues to watch for-e-auction volume realisation-News flows on price hike-Cost absorption in Q4FY15-Volume mix, realisation trend and guidance for FY15