Shares of PB Fintech, which operates online insurance broker Policybazaar and loan marketplace Paisabazaar, surged 5% in early trade after Hedge fund WF Asian Smaller Companies Fund bought 67.75 lakh shares via open market transactions. The shares bought are 1.5 percent of the total paid-up equity.
PB Fintech stock went up 5.09% to a new intraday high of Rs 454.35 against the previous close of Rs 432.20 on the BSE. The stock opened at Rs 445.05 earlier in the day with a gain of 2.97%. The stock has surged over 10% over the last two sessions. The large-cap stock is trading higher than 5 day and 20 day moving averages but lower than 50 day, 100 day and 200 day moving averages. It has lost 64.91 per cent in 2022, falling 53.47 per cent in 2022 and losing 53.47 per cent in a year. The total changed hands of 1.43 lakh shares, which is a turnover of 6.33 crore on the BSE. The firm's market cap rose to 19,865 crore.
The stock was at a 52 week high of 1,338 and hit a 52 week high. The November 25, 2021 low was Rs 356.20 on November 17, 2022, 95 on November 25, 2021 and a 52 week low on November 17, 2022.
The Asian Smaller Companies Fund bought 34.21 lakh shares of Policybazaar on the NSE and 33.53 lakh shares on the BSE, at an average price of Rs 400 per share. The transaction was worth Rs 271 crore.
JM Financial is a bullish on PB Fintech and assigned a target of 910. JM Financial said PB Fintech is probably the area where management has been most outspoken about their adjusted EBITDA breakeven in Q 4 FY 23. As of Q 2 FY 23 the company already has adjusted EBITDA level profitability in its core online insurance business, with Paisabazaar expected to become profitable in Q 4 FY 23.
The company has shown a positive trend with the adjusted Ebitda margin reaching minus 9 per cent in Q 2 FY 23. It expects PB Fintech to achieve profitability in Q 4 FY 23 as Q 4 is a very strong quarter for insurance. With large profits in H 2 FY 24 we are expecting to see losses in H 1 FY 24.
Policybazaar reported a narrowing of its consolidated losses at Rs 186.64 crore for the September 2022 quarter compared with Rs 204.33 crore in June quarter and Rs 204.44 crore in the year-ago quarter. Revenue for the quarter doubled by 105 per cent YoY to Rs 573.47 crore from Rs 279.58 crore in the same quarter last year.
In early trade today, Sensex fell 69 points or 0.11 per cent 62,203 and the Nifty fell 18 points or 0.10 per cent to 18,466.