Cholamandalam shares surge as robust earnings lift mood

Shares of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company surged on February 1 as a strong set of earnings for the quarter ended December cheered investors.

The company managed to post 31 percent year-on-year growth in its consolidated net profit for the December quarter despite high inflation and rising interest rates. The jump in the bottomline was supported by strong festive sales, a robust housing market, and market share gain across product segments in vehicle finance and other business units.

Net income jumped 22 percent on year to Rs 1,832 crore, and disbursements also rose 68 percent to Rs 17,559 crore during the Oct-Dec quarter. Another positive was the rise in total assets under management as it jumped 31 percent on year thanks to the strong growth across segments.  Total AUM crossed the milestone of Rs 1 lakh crore and came at Rs 1.03 lakh crore for the December quarter.

At 10.26 am, the stock was trading 7.33 percent higher at Rs 758.80 on the National Stock Exchange. The surge in the stock was also accompanied by strong volumes, which were more than double the 20-day daily traded average volumes.

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Brokerages' take

A sequential fall in bad loans and write-offs, coupled with a surprise on the assets under management and net income margin front prompted Morgan Stanley to retain its Equal-weight rating for the stock. The brokerage firm assigned a target price of Rs 725 for the stock.

Another brokerage firm, Jefferies also had a positive view for the stock on the back of the company's higher-than-expected bottomline due to stronger net interest income and lower provisions.

Jefferies gave a Buy call for the stock with a target price of Rs 890, which implies a potential upside of nearly 26 percent from January 31 closing price.

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