BSE share price jumps 5% after Jefferies initiates coverage; sees 24% upside

livemint.com:

BSE rose 5 percent in intra-day deals on Tuesday, extending gains for 3rd session after global brokerage Jefferies initiated coverage on the stock with bullish outlook. Jefferies has initiated a 'buy' recommendation for BSE, setting a price target of ₹2,700, indicating an upside potential of 24 percent. The stock's lower forward P/E ratio compared to other market players suggests a potentially attractive investment opportunity, said the brokerage.

The stock rose as much as 5 percent to its intra-day high of ₹2,280. Meanwhile, in the last 3 sessions, it has advanced over 9 percent. It has given multibagger returns in the last 1 year as well as in 2023 YTD.

BSE soared almost 280 percent in the last 1 year and over 318 percent in 2023 YTD. Rising over 22 percent just in November, the stock has extended gains for 8 straight months since April. Between April to November, it rallied 474 percent.

However, the stock was in the red in the first 3 months of the current calendar year, down 5.8 percent in January, 14.16 percent in February and 2.22 percent in March. The stock also hit its record high of ₹2475, earlier this month on November 20, 2023. It has now advanced 509 percent from its 52-week low of ₹406.20, hit on March 28, 2023.

Maintaining a bullish view on BSE, the global brokerage also predicted a substantial 150 percent increase in earnings for the stock in the fiscal year 2024, with a doubling effect expected by the fiscal year 2026. In the September quarter, the leading stock exchange reported a four-fold jump in net profit at ₹118.4 crore as against a net profit of ₹29.4 crore in the year-ago period. The bourse's revenue also rose 53 percent to a record ₹367 crore in the July-September quarter of the current financial