RIL topples TCS to become most valuable company by market cap post Q1 earnings
Mukesh Ambani-owned conglomerate Reliance Industries finally surpassed country’s largest IT company TCS to become the most valuable company by market capitalisation on bourses on Tuesday.
Reliance rallied 2.6 percent intraday to hit a fresh record high of Rs 1,179.90 and touched the market-cap of Rs 7.41 lakh crore, higher compared to TCS’ Rs 7.39 lakh crore.
Reliance share price has consistently been trading higher for third consecutive session and rising nearly 6 percent in these sessions due to highest ever profit reported for the June quarter.
In fact it rallied nearly 28 percent, so far, in 2018 as Jio, petrochemical and retail businesses have been adding more profits.
Experts remained positive on the stock, citing likely growth in consumer as well as petrochemical businesses.
Morgan Stanley maintained its overweight rating on the stock with a target at Rs 1,230 per share.
According to research house, transition in profitability is evident in earnings and most businesses showed good step-ups in margins. “Cash burn in telecom remains a challenge but still expect return on capital employed to rise 150bps per annum until FY21.”
The company has posted first quarter consolidated profit at Rs 9,485 crore, which grew by 0.3 percent compared to Rs 9,459 crore in the previous quarter. The year-on-year bottomline growth was 4.5 percent.
Consolidated revenue during the quarter increased 10.1 percent sequentially (up 42 percent YoY) to Rs 1.29 lakh crore.
On the operational front, EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) jumped 11.9 percent to Rs 20,661 crore with margin expansion of 20 basis points sequentially at 16 percent.
Jio also continued its momentum with profit growing 20 percent sequentially to Rs 612 crore for the quarter ended June. Its profit in the March quarter stood at Rs 510 crore.
At 12:55 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 1,179.75, up Rs 30.05, or 2.61 percent on the BSE.
Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.
