Why Trent shares tanked 4% today; target prices after 27% rally in one month

Shares of Trent Ltd declined 4 per cent in Thursday’s trade, trimming their one-month gains to 27 per cent, despite the Tata group firm reporting a strong March quarter performance. The pullback reflected profit booking, with a couple of brokerages indicating that near-term upside appears limited following the recent sharp rally. Revenue grew 20 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY26, marking a recovery after several quarters of moderating growth. Like-for-like growth improved to low single digits from mildly negative levels in the December quarter, while gross margin expanded 170 basis points year-on-year, likely supported by a favourable product mix, analysts said, even as views on the stock’s outlook remained mixed. Better execution masked prevailing macro headwinds, said on brokerage. 

HDFC Institutional Equities said it has downgraded the Trent stock to 'ADD' with a target price of Rs 4,500, as the upside looks limited post 30 per cent rally since its last upgrade a month ago.

Nuvama tweaked its revenue and Ebitda estimates for FY27 and FY28 and arrived at a target price of Rs 4,828 from Rs 4,543 earlier. It maintained 'Hold' on the stock, even it believes the nascent consensus earnings upgrade cycle could aid multiple expansion for Trent.

The Trent stock trades at 62 times estimated FY28 standalone earnings, excluding contribution from Star and Zara JV. MOFSL said it does not believe there is a scope of significant multiple re-rating, unless the company continues to surprise positively on growth as well as margins.

"We reiterate Buy on Trent with a revised target of Rs 5,250, premised on 45 times FY28E EV/pre-IND AS Ebitda for the standalone (Westside and Zudio) business, 2.5x EV/sales for Star JV, and 2x EV/Ebitda for Zara JV," it said.

Trent said consumers are spending with caution, and geopolitical disruptions in the West Asia have second-order effects on supply chains, commodity prices and inflation. "However, Trent's aggressive store expansion and the board's approval for up to an Rs 2,500 crore fund raise signal conviction in the structural growth story. We believe this capital infusion equips Trent to scale its emerging platforms (Star) while the company fortifies its core – Westside and Zudio – networks. Maintain ADD; target revised to Rs 5,000 (Rs 4,300 earlier," ICICI Securities said.