Shares of pharma major Cipla jumped 8% to hit a 52-week high of ₹1,425 apiece on the NSE in trade Tuesday, a day after the company reported a strong performance in the third quarter, beating Street estimates. At 1:20 pm, the scrip was trading 6.55% higher at ₹1,406.25 apiece on the NSE.
India growth at 11.5% was impressive and in-line with analysts' expectations. US (highest ever $230 million) was aided by seasonality for respiratory products in addition to gRevlimid contribution that drove revenue and gross profit.
Cipla has successfully filed Symbicort and 1 generic inhalation asset in US. South Africa growth of 15% year-on-year aided by tender business as private business grew at 7% (versus 2% market growth). Gross margin at 66.4% (4 year high) and opex control led to multi-year high 26.5% EBITDA margin.
Maintaining a 'Buy' rating, analysts at Nuvama Institutional Equities said that they will revisit their estimates and target price after the company's earnings conference call.
Cipla has posted quarterly revenue of ₹6,604 crore (on a consolidated basis) in the third quarter of the current financial year, supported by growth across branded prescriptions, trade generics, and consumer health, the pharma major had said in a filing.
A CNBC-TV18 poll estimated Cipla's revenue at 6,473.4 crore. Cipla had posted a revenue of ₹5,811 crore in Q3FY23.
Cipla's net profit for the quarter under review jumped 31.8% to ₹1,056 crore, better than the CNBC-TV18 poll estimate of ₹1,020.4 crore. The pharma major had posted a net profit of ₹801 crore in the same period a year ago.
Cipla's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) in the third quarter came in at ₹1,747.7 crore, rising 24% against ₹1,408.4 crore it had posted in the October-December quarter last year.
Cipla's margin jumped to its highest-ever 26.5% in the quarter under review. It had posted a margin of 24.2% in the same quarter a year ago.
On Cipla's Q3 results, Umang Vohra, MD and Global CEO of the pharma major said, "I am happy to announce results for yet another quarter which further established our strengths of our core business in India, North America, and South Africa. Our topline growth for the quarter was at an impressive 14% YoY with strong EBITDA margins at 26.3%... Our focus continues on expansion in chronic therapies, growing big brands, global wellness, as well as developing our R&D pipeline in respiratory and peptides. We will continue to focus on driving profitable growth across businesses.”
