Marico share price climbs 10% after Q4 results. Should you buy, sell or hold?

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Marico jumped 10% on BSE in Tuesday's trade to the day’s high of Rs 583 after the FMCG major on Monday reported a 5% year-on-year (YoY) jump in its March quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 320 crore.

The revenue from operations rose merely 1.7% YoY to Rs 2,278 crore from Rs 2,240 crore in the year-ago quarter although the company managed to trim its expenses to Rs 1,894 crore in Q4FY24 from Rs 1,970 crore in Q3FY24 and Rs 1,907 crore in Q4FY23.

Brokerages share a mixed view on the stock post the March quarter results. Here’s what they have to say:

Motilal Oswal

Motilal Oswal says that the improvement in rural market, market share gain, accelerated growth in foods and premium personal care, healthy growth in international business, and the normalization of price cuts should help MRCO deliver better revenue in FY25-26E. They added that Marico has also been sustaining double-digit EBITDA growth.

They have a ‘buy’ rating maintained on the stock with a target price of Rs 625.

Investec

Marico’s operating performance was broadly in line with Investec’s estimates. Diversification of India portfolio, return of pricing and recovering international add to the brokerage firm’s confidence in the company. While near-term margins seem unlikely to expand, Investec believes there are sufficient triggers for longer-term margin improvement.

Investec upgraded the stock from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’ with a target price of Rs 616.

Kotak Institutional Equities

“Marico’s operating performance was broadly in line with its quarter-end