PVR rises on big box-office run, likely to see more gains
PVR Inox has been an outperformer on the bourses in the past month as the release of several big-ticket and highly awaited films such as Oppenheimer, Gadar 2, Mission Impossible 7, Jailer and OMG 2 over the last few weeks has raised expectations of a revival of the industry's fortunes. PVR shares have gained 13.4% in the past month as against the near flat performance of the benchmark BSE 500 index in the period.
Analysts see further 17-30% gains in the stock from current levels to as much as ₹2,240.
The stock declined 0.7% to ₹1,698 on Tuesday. Earlier this week, PVR surged to ₹1,744 — the highest level in nearly seven months.
Cinema exhibitors have had a turbulent ride in the last three-four years on account of a prolonged shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, audiences' hesitancy to venture into crowded places, a weak content pipeline and dominance of OTT (over-the-top) platforms. «Regional and Hollywood movies were anyway doing well, and now we are seeing Hindi movies do well, so this is a trend reversal,» said Abneesh Roy, executive director at Nuvama Institutional Equities.
Roy sees the shares at ₹2,100- ₹2,200 over the next few quarters.
ICICI Securities last week raised its price target on PVR to ₹2,240 citing recovery of movie exhibition business. Jinesh Joshi, research analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher sees the shares rising to as high as ₹2,000.
After two disappointing quarters, directors and producers are making efforts on marketing, which is helping bring back audiences, even if the content is not top-notch, said analysts.
«Festival spends are expected to be very strong this year compared to the last, and even though the March quarter is generally subdued due to examinations, a low base from the previous year
