Nestle share price drops 5% post Q3 earnings; top loser on BSE

Shares of Nestle India traded as the top loser in the Sensex pack, falling over 5% after the FMCG major reported 2.25% YoY rise in its net profit for the quarter ended December to Rs 483.3 crore, as against Rs 472.64 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

Following the result update, shares of the most consistent Sensex performers from FMCG category opened at day's high of Rs 16,900 and fell 5.01% to hit an intraday low of Rs 16,360 on BSE.

Later the stock was trading 2.7% lower at Rs 16,748, as against the previous close of Rs 17,222.45. The stock has fallen 4.8% in the last 2 days.

During the quarter under review, the company's revenues in the quarter grew 9% YoY to Rs 3,432.6 crore. The board of the packaged food major also approved a final dividend for the financial year ended December 31 of Rs 65 per share.

"Under these circumstances, I am pleased to share that we delivered strong domestic sales growth. Nearly two-thirds of our key brands like Maggi noodles, Kit Kat and Nescafe Classic posted double-digit growth last year," Suresh Narayanan, chairman and managing director at Nestle India said in a statement.

"After initial challenges due to the pandemic, the demand in out-of-home channels has continued to improve, sequentially over quarters and we remain confident of its recovery," he added.

Nestle share price has fallen 2.44% in one week and 6.28% in a month. Year-to-date, the stock is down 8.9%.

The market capitalisation of the FMCG major stood at Rs 1,61,532.48 crore. Nestle stock price trades lower than 5, 20, 50, 100 and 200-day moving averages.

Nestle stock has risen 49% from its all-time lows of Rs 12,588.95, hit on 19 March 2020 to Rs 18,821.45, as of 24 December 2020. The stock currently trades 10.9% lower than its all-time high.

Meanwhile, FMCG sector index was down 0.65% on BSE, in line with Sensex falling 0.57% intraday. Besides Nestle, Titan, RIL, ITC, HUL, HCL Tech, ONGC, HDFC, TCS, PowerGrid and ICICI Bank were also trading among the top losers on BSE today.

Share Market Live: Sensex drops 300 points, Nifty at 15, 250; L&T, Maruti, Titan top losers

Stocks in news: Future Retail, L&T Finance, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, TVS Srichakra, Nestle

Bitcoin races past $50,000 for first time amid growing acceptance