Wednesday’s earnings had a bit of everything. Autos, defence, eyewear and pharma delivered strong quarters, while a separate set of names further down the list found the market much less forgiving.
The big names lead with strong numbers
Tata Motors led the day’s earnings, with profit surging 83% even as revenue came under some sequential pressure. Margins widened nonetheless, helped by continued cost discipline. Commercial vehicle wholesales grew 26% year on year, electric small commercial vehicles had their best quarter yet, and the company generated ₹1,100 crore in free cash flow.
Hindustan Aeronautics had another strong showing, beating the Street across the board. Profit rose 14.7% to ₹1,580 crore and revenue grew 14.4% to ₹5,515 crore, both ahead of estimates. EBITDA margin expanded to 27.7% from 26.6% a year ago, also comfortably above Street expectations.
Lenskart added to the strong showing, with profit nearly quadrupling to ₹222 crore as revenue grew more than 43%. Margins expanded sharply, with the improvement holding even on an adjusted basis after accounting for lease-related costs.
Grasim Industries also posted broad-based growth, with profit rising 51% and revenue increasing more than 21%. The company pointed to strong performance across its businesses, with its cement operations and the continued scale-up of Birla Opus and Birla Pivot contributing to the growth.
Not every name had the market on its side
Jyothy Labs had one of the tougher quarters of the morning, with shares falling around 5% after profit nearly halved and EBITDA dropped almost 48%, despite a modest increase in revenue.
Senco Gold told a more complicated story. Its stock fell as much as 10% even as revenue surged 67% and same-store sales grew 39%. Profit, however, slipped marginally from a year ago, with the sharp rise in gold prices during the quarter putting pressure on margins even as jewellery demand remained strong.
EID-Parry also had a softer quarter, with profit falling 42.5% on higher expenses and weaker performance across some of its key businesses, even as revenue edged up.Marksans Pharma was among the day’s stronger market reactions, with the stock trading more than 11% higher after profit nearly tripled and revenue grew more than 35%.
A few boardroom conversations
Balrampur Chini’s CFO Pramod Patwari said the company has not heard of any government move to restrict the diversion of sugarcane juice or B-heavy molasses towards ethanol, even as sugar prices have risen sharply in recent weeks amid concerns over festive-season supply.
Hindustan Copper’s Chairman and MD Anupam Mishra said the company is targeting around 32,000 tonnes of metal-in-concentrate production this year, up from 27,000 tonnes last year. He also expects the current favourable copper price environment to continue supporting profitability.
Skipper’s Sharan Bansal said the company is retaining its FY27 guidance of 15% revenue growth and 30% profit growth despite a soft first quarter. He attributed the weakness largely to the timing of export shipments disrupted by geopolitical developments, while maintaining that margin expansion remains on track and shipments should normalise in the coming quarters.
That’s Wednesday. Follow all the live updates on Q1 earnings and everything else moving the market here.
