Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd crossed ₹1 trillion in market capitalisation for the first time on Monday after its shares hit a record high, having rallied more than 34% so far this year.

The stock hit an all time high of ₹492.85 apiece on the BSE today, rising nearly 3% from its previous close. At 1239 pm, the scrip traded at ₹492.79, with a market cap of ₹1.01 trillion. In November, the stock had climbed 14% while so far this month it has surged 20%.

This is the second entity, after Adani Green Energy Ltd, to have achieved the milestone in the group.

Investors have been buying shares of Adani Ports after many brokerages raised their target price for the stock following the acquisition of Krishnapatnam Port. Analyst believe it has value accretive potential from day one of signing of the agreement.

Adani Ports completed acquisition of Krishnapatnam Port in October for ₹12,000 crore. According to the company, the acquisition is expected to generate an operating income of around ₹1,200 crore for the fiscal ending March 2021.

According to Elara Capital, business process re-engineering and optimum utilisation of existing assets have led to EBITDA margin expansion from 54% in January to 70% in October

“Without incremental capex, reorganisation of operational processes, contracting processes and rationalization of overhead resulted in EBITDA improvement of INR 3bn pa. There is scope of expansion in EBITDA margin to 78% by FY25, led by capacity expansion from 64mn tonne to 100mn tonne over the next five years with a capex of INR 7.5bn and value addition through cargo diversity and capital management,” Elara Capital had said in a 7 December note.

Elara has reiterated its buy rating on the stock and increased the target price to ₹560 apiece, up 23%. Brokerage firm Nomura has also maintained its buy rating and raised its target price to ₹530 from ₹440.

Jefferies India has a buy rating and a target price of ₹525, up from ₹425 a share. Kotak Institutional Equities also has buy rating with a target price of ₹495 apiece.

Currently, the stock has 25 buy ratings, one hold rating and zero sell ratings, according to data.


Source: Hellenic Shipping