Marico shares surge 10% on Q4 results; brokerages turn upbeat

Shares of Marico Ltd zoomed 10 per cent on Tuesday after the company reported a 4.9 per cent rise in consolidated net profit in quarter that ended March 2024. A few brokerages even upgraded the FMCG company post-results and hiked price targets.

The stock ended at ₹582.10 on the NSE, up 9.77 per cent from Tuesday’s close. At the BSE, it ended at ₹582, up 9.59 per cent.

Brokerages have been positive on the stock — the majority of them assigning ‘buy’ calls — after the company reported in-line revenue growth. Global brokerages such as Goldman Sachs and Citi have given ‘buy’ rating at/ increased target price of ₹615. They foresee an improvement in Marico’s growth in FY25, driven by accelerated volume growth and pricing trends.

Nuvama has upgraded its rating from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ with an increased target price of ₹640.

Reiterating their ‘buy’ stance on the stock, analysts of Motilal Oswal said, “We value the stock based on 45x Mar’26E EPS to arrive at a target price of ₹625.” They observed that the company has been sustaining double-digit EBITDA growth, a better scorecard, and an estimated 10 per cent EPS CAGR during FY24-26.

Brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher has upgraded the stock from hold to ‘accumulate at a target price of ₹588 from the earlier price of ₹554. “We factor in 11.7 per cent sales growth & 10.4 per cent PAT CAGR over FY24-26. We value MRCO at 42x FY26 EPS,” it said.

JM Financial has maintained its buy call for Marico stock; however, it reduced the target price to ₹600 from ₹615. 

Portfolio

Motilal Oswal’s report pointed out that the consolidated net sales grew 2 per cent y-o-y to ₹22.7 billion (est. ₹22.7 billion) in 4QFY24. However, it is said that domestic growth remains sluggish. 

The international business delivered 10 per cent CC growth, led by a recovery in Bangladesh (after facing transient headwinds in the preceding quarter) and strong growth momentum in MENA and SA.

The analysts believe that improving  the rural market, market share gain, accelerated growth in foods and premium personal care, healthy growth in international business, and the normalisation of price cuts should help the company deliver better revenue in FY25-26E.

Analysts have been optimistic about Marico’s Project SETU, which will likely boost the portfolio play. 

On the contrary, CLSA has given a ‘sell’ call at a target price of ₹460, citing that the core categories face structural issues and if the margin improvement comes at the cost of growth.