Ashok Leyland on superfast lane!

Ashok Leyland is literally on the superfast lane today. With a 2 times surge in volumes, the stock hit a new 52-week high today at Rs.57.40 and continues to remains strongly in the green.

This flagship company of the Hinduja’s and the second largest commercial vehicle (CV) maker of India, is reacting positively to the very good sales number it reported for December’14. The company stated that sales of Medium and heavy CV (M&HCV) was up 85% (YoY) at 7210 units  though sales of Light CV (LCV) dropped 13% at 2080 units.

The stock has been on the “buy” radars ever since it announced its Q2FY15 performance wherein it posted a YoY turnaround, with a net profit of Rs.121 crore compared to loss of Rs.25 crore in previous Q2. This turnaround was supported by a 26% rise in revenue at Rs.3218 crore. EBTIDA for the quarter was at 234 crore, giving a healthy margin of 7.27% v/s 2.21% last Q2. What also helped the turnaround was an asset sale which brought in Rs.109 crore’ But for this one-time gain, it would still have been a turnaround with a net profit at Rs.12 crore.

The company did well in H1FY15 as total sales rose 5% (YoY) at 28,290 vehicles and this helped boost its HCV and MCV market shares to 27.1%. LCV sales on the other hand fell 15%. International operations grew by 25%, while sales of defence vehicles also registered a healthy growth. It ended H1 with a net profit at Rs.73 crore  and the company’s MD, Mr.Vinod Dasari gave a very optimistic outlook for the future, stating that, “ The economy is showing firm signs of recovery and assertive action on infrastructure projects will only push demand higher in the second half. We are quite buoyant that the overall positivity in sentiment bodes well for growth prospects of the industry.”