Stocks In Action: October 12, 2012

Today IT bellwether Infosys is going to announce its September quarter results of 2012. In the past Infosys has been facing serious headwinds in terms of growth that has resulted in the stock to move significantly lower post the result announcements. The streets expect the company’s revenue growth to accelerate by 3.4 per cent on a sequential basis. One has to also watch out for the EPS guidance which will be lowered due to rupee appreciation. The proposed hike in the salaries of its employees would lead to a lower EPS for FY13. Depending on the result, the stock may swing to either side with a lot of volatility.

According to media reports, Bharti Airtel’s tower unit may launch its planned initial public offering in 2012, subject to clearance from the market regulators. According to the reports, Bharti Airtel’s mobile phone tower unit filed for an IPO in September to be able o raise nearly USD 1 billion in the country’s biggest IPO in more than two years. On the back of this news the stock yesterday closed higher by 2.06 per cent at Rs 267.2 per share and might also see volatility with a positive bias in today’s trading session.

According to Business Line, Petronet LNG’s Kochi terminal will go on stream in January 2013. However, the terminal will operate only at less than a fifth of its capacity because the off-take infrastructure is not yet ready. Further, the company is also gearing itself up to build another LNG importation, storage and regassification terminal at the eastern port of Gangavaram, Andhra Pradesh. On the back of this news one may see volatility in the share price of Petronet LNG in today’s trading session.

According to Economic Times, state-run Coal India yesterday said that it aims at raising its production capacity to 180 million tonnes over the next five years. Coal India has set a production target of 464 million tonnes for the current financial year. The company had achieved 435.84 million tonnes in 2011-12 against the targeted 447 million tonnes. The company also said that it was in the process of earmarking about Rs 30,000 crore for capacity expansion during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) period. On the back of this news one may see volatility with a positive bias in today’s trading session.

According to Business Line, Tata Steel plans to go for more layoffs and cut production in its European operations besides infusing funds to make it an ‘all-weather company’. The company had earlier announced that it would retrench 1,500 workers in Europe, mainly in Northern England. Kohler, however, did not give any layoff figure for this time. On the back of this news one may see volatility with a negative bias in the share price of Tata Steel in today’s trading session.

According to Economic Times, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) will complete its expansion projects costing more than USD 3 billion at two refineries by 2015 as it moves to boost output and upgrade fuel quality. On the back of this news one may see some volatility with a positive bias in today’s trading session.

Tomorrow companies like HDFC Bank, TTK Prestige, DCB Bank, Heidelberg Cement, Polaris, Hindustan Media, etc would announce their September quarter numbers, which may drive their share prices upwards or downward depending on how they fare.