Drugmaker Cipla Limited is expected to report a higher net profit on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis for the quarter ended December 2022 as it might benefit from higher sales in the US market.
Cipla, which will unveil its financial results for the fiscal third quarter on January 25, may see its consolidated net profit rise 21.9 percent YoY and 10.6 percent Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) to Rs 888.4 crore, according to the average estimate of securities firms polled by Moneycontrol.
Ahead of results, the stock is trading lower at Rs 1056.55 per share, down by 0.5 percent. On January 24, it closed flat at Rs 1,062.15 apiece.
Its India business is expected to have grown at mid-single digits in what is a seasonally weak quarter, according to analysts at BNP Paribas.
US sales likely grew at low single digits QoQ to reach $185 million, led by Cipla’s generic version of Bristol Myers Squibb’s Revlimid, a prescription drug indicated for several hematological malignancies in adults with multiple myeloma.
ICICI Securities projects Cipla’s India business to have grown 4 percent YoY on a higher base while projecting US sales to reach $176 million.
It expects sales in SAGA, which includes South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Cipla Global Access, to decline 2.8 percent YoY.
Kotak Securities pegs domestic sales to have grown at a more optimistic yearly growth rate of 9 percent and US sales at 6 percent YoY to $190 million, led by market share gains of key products like the Albuterol inhaler, Lanreotide injection and Brovana inhalation solution.
Kotak Securities predicts marginally higher sales of the generic version of Revlimid at $25 million.
“We expect Cipla's gross margin to stay largely flat sequentially at 62.8 percent. After factoring in slightly higher R&D (5.9 percent of sales), we expect 90 bps (basis points) QoQ improvement in EBITDA margin to 23.3 percent,” Kotak Securities added.
One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.
“We continue to maintain that the company's FY2023 EBITDA margin guidance of 21-22% is conservative.”
EBITDA is short for Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation.
ICICI Securities expects the EBITDA margin to improve YoY led by high-margin Revlimid.
Overall, revenue and EBITDA are expected to grow 10.2 percent and 17 percent YoY, while expanding 3.6 percent and 8.3 percent sequentially, respectively, according to the Moneycontrol Poll.
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