IRCTC shares trading flat ahead of Q3 earnings; here's what to expect

Shares of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) were trading flat in early trade ahead of the state-owned firm's Q3 earnings set to be announced today. The large cap stock fell 0.05% to Rs 640.75 against the previous close of Rs 641.05 on BSE. The stock hit 52-week high of Rs 868.10 on February 9, 2022 and a 52-week low of Rs 557 on July  6, 2022. The stock has fallen after three days of gain.

IRCTC share is trading higher than the 5 day and 20 day moving averages but lower than 50 day, 100 day and 200 day moving averages.

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The stock has gained 0.2 per cent since the beginning of this year and risen 24.56 per cent in one year. Market cap of the firm stood at Rs 51,200 crore. Total 8282 shares amounting to turnover of Rs 52.96 lakh changed hands on BSE.

Profit is likely to rise 17.1 per cent to Rs 244.50 crore from Rs 208.80 crore YoY. Revenue is expected to soar due to the base effect and continued traction in non-convenience income & catering business, Prabhudas Lilladher said.  IRCTC is likely to post ticketing volumes of 9.8 crore in the December quarter compared with 11.6 crore in June quarter and 10.7 crore in September. However, IRCTC's tourism business is expected to witness strong rebound amid seasonality, the brokerage said.

Excluding last 11 days of December, the cumulative non-suburban PRS traffic stood at 15.97 crore. Assuming in the 3rd bucket period of December, passenger traffic settles down at 1.76 crore, similar to bucket-2, collective passenger traffic for the quarter would stand at 17.7 crore, said Prabhudas Lilladher.

 "Given 1.7-1.8 times passengers travel per e-ticket, we expect online bookings of 9.8 crore in 3QFY23. Overall, we expect IRCTC's revenues to increase 62.7 per cent YoY to Rs 879.10 crore with an Ebitda margin of 36.2 per cent," it said.

In the September quarter of the current fiscal, IRCTC reported a 42.54% rise in profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 226.03 crore in the September quarter of FY23 against Rs 158.57 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue from operations rose 99% to Rs 805.80 crore in Q2FY23 from  Rs 404.93 crore in Q2FY22. Total expenses climbed 152.84% to Rs 524.33 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 207.37 crore in Q2FY22.

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