Jan 21 (Reuters) - Indian state-run refiner Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) reported a jump in third-quarter profit on Wednesday, supported by higher refining margins as crude prices dropped.
The Mumbai-based firm's standalone net profit rose 34.7% to 40.72 billion rupees ($444.5 million) in the three months ended December 31.
HPCL's quarterly gross refining margin - the profit from making refined products from one barrel of oil - improved to $8.85 per barrel from $6.01 reported a year ago.
For further results highlights, (nFWN3YM0ZJ)
KEY CONTEXT
Global Brent crude oil prices - used by refiners as a raw material - dropped more than 9% in the October-December quarter, pushing up margins.
Additionally, fuel consumption in India, the world's third-largest consumer and importer of oil, also hit a record high in December following a six-month peak in November.
Consumption rose 5.5% and 5.3% year-on-year in November and December, respectively, after a 0.4% drop in October, according to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC).
PEER COMPARISON
|
Valuation (next 12 months) |
Estimates (next 12 months) |
Analysts' sentiment |
|||||||
|
RIC |
PE |
EV/EBITDA |
Revenue growth (%) |
Profit growth (%) |
Mean rating* |
No. of analysts |
Stock to price target** |
Div yield (%) |
|
|
Hindustan Petroleum Corp |
(HPCL.NS) |
6.52 |
5.56 |
1.71 |
2.65 |
Buy |
17 |
0.85 |
2.34 |
|
Bharat Petroleum Corporation |
(BPCL.NS) |
7.77 |
5.67 |
1.34 |
-6.91 |
Buy |
22 |
0.87 |
3.99 |
|
Indian Oil Corporation |
(IOC.NS) |
8.50 |
6.16 |
1.92 |
7.39 |
Buy |
20 |
0.93 |
4.10 |
|
Reliance Industries |
(RELI.NS) |
21.47 |
10.79 |
6.89 |
9.49 |
Buy |
34 |
0.81 |
0.39 |
* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT
OCTOBER-DECEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE
-- All data from LSEG
-- $1 = 91.6150 rupees
Reporting by Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman
Source: Reuters