Stocks In Action: November 5, 2012

Dabur India has announced a plan to ramp up its presence in the retail business. The company operates 50 New U stores in India at the moment and plans to get this number to 100 stores over the next three years. The management also expressed their intention to enter the retail services business in the personal care segment. Also, according to media reports, Dabur India has set its eyes on two iconic brands - Kolkata-based G D Pharmaceuticals-controlled ‘Boroline’s Eleen’ and Dey’s Medical-owned ‘Keo Karpin’ - as part of its strategy to acquire niche regional brands to boost presence in the domestic personal care market, especially in the hair care segment. These factors are likely to push the stock price of Dabur India upwards.

Jet Airways announced its Q2FY13 results, which beat the market expectations. The company cut its quarterly losses by 86 per cent on account of a jump in the operating income. This seems to have been a beneficial trickle effect of the shutdown of Kingfisher Airlines. The result announcement led to a 3.09 per cent increase in the share price of Jet Airways on Friday. The company later announced that it would increase capacity on its international routes by reconfiguring its aircraft mix, thus enabling the airline to take on competition without having to increase its fleet size. This is likely to increase efficiency and thus result in an upward move in its stock prices today as well.

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) announced that it would increase its steel making capacity at its Vizag plant to 20 milion tonne per annum (MTPA) by 2022-23. The company said the Vizag plant has the capacity to become the largest capacity single location plant in India. This is likely to add volatility to the stock prices of RINL with a positive directional bias.

DLF said it expects to raise Rs 2,500 crore by the end of this fiscal by selling stake in two of its non-core businesses. After the recent sale of the company’s Mumbai land to Lodha Developers, DLF now plans to sell its luxury hospitality chain Aman Resorts and its wind energy business. The company is expecting its net debt to come down to around Rs 18,000 crore with the closure of these deals. The stock prices of DLF are likely to see an upward movement today.

Among the companies to announce their Q2FY13 results today are Allahabad Bank, Amara Raja, Ceat, India Cements, Mafatlal Industries, Reliance Power, Tech Mahindra, Vijaya Bank and Voltas, among others. These stocks are likely to see volatility in today’s trading session with the market direction depending on the results they announce.