GSFC slumps after riding high

State-promoted Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation Ltd (GSFC) is deeply in the red, down over 5.5% at Rs.114.15. The stock has been hitting a new high consistently since 9th Oct; even on 14th Oct, it hit a new high at Rs.123.50.

Most obviously, the stock was running high on expectations of a very good performance for Q2 and once the numbers came in, there is now profit booking.

But the company did post a good set of numbers. For Q2FY15, it posted a 22% (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs.124 crore on a 4.5% rise in net sales at Rs.1482 crore. The company, in a statement issued with the results stated that GSFC had achieved the highest turnover in the second quarter over the last five years. This good performance was on account of consistency in supply of raw materials such as benzene, sulphur ammonia etc.

The profit booking, despite good numbers was because this performance missed most of the estimates of brokerage houses and analysts. They had expected a much better performance but performance mainly lagged behind on account of its chemical division, which reported poor sales on back of lower demand.