IRCTC shares fall for second day, Sensex up 119 points

On Friday, shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd IRCTC fell for the second consecutive session. The stock has slipped 0.59 per cent to close at 645.50 on BSE today. The PSU has appointed Seema Kumar as the Chairman and Managing Director CMD of the Indian Railways. The leadership change came after Rajni Hasija completed her term as director of tourism marketing at IRCTC. She also ceases to hold the additional charge of the post of CMD due to her superannuation, IRCTC said. In addition, Kamlesh Kumar Mishra, IRCTC director of tourism marketing, has been given the additional charge as IRCTC director of tourism marketing, which had a healthy fourth quarter of Q4 of the same period last year. The IRCTC Board also recommended a dividend of Rs. 2 per equity share of the face value of Rs. 2 for FY23, whose total share capital would be Rs 160 crore. This final dividend is in addition to the Interim dividend of Rs. 3.50 per share declared by the Board in the month of February 2023 and already paid to the shareholders, the company said in an exchange filing.

In the fourth quarter, IRCTC presented a robust set of results, with revenue increased by 39 per cent and PAT profit after tax increased by 30 per cent. Margins also looked good at 34 per cent. The stock was trading at 52 x its EPS earnings per share, which puts the valuation on a higher side, said Ravi Singh, vice-president and head of research at Share India.

Despite the criticism, analysts remained mixed on the counter. One of them said the stock may witness selling pressure in the near term, while others suggested buying the dips while keeping the stop loss placed.

Share India's Singh said the stock may witness selling pressure in the near term and can touch Rs 620. The stock has bottomed out near the 560 zone and given a decent pullback towards Rs 630 levels where the stock has been in consolidation, Vaishali Parekh, the vice president of technical research at Prabhudas Lilladher, said. We suggest buying the stock for an upside target of 727, while keeping the stop loss at 605. Jigar S Patel, senior manager - technical research analyst at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers, said one can buy in the zone of 645 - 650 with an upside target of Rs 700 and stop-loss would be Rs 624. AR Ramachandran from Tips 2 trades said, IRCTC has strong resistance at Rs 660 on the daily charts. A daily close below support of 640 could lead to lower targets of 604 - 578 in the near term. VLA Ambala, a research analyst at Stock Market Today, said that Rs 600 to Rs 550 is a support range for the stock. A strict stop loss must be kept at Rs 540. In addition, Indian equity benchmarks traded higher today, causing their two-day fall. The domestic indices had a surge in value, boosted by gains in banks, metals, consumer, pharma, and automobile stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack rose 119 points or 0.19 percent to close at 62,547, while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 46 points or 0.25 percent higher to settle at 18,534.