Gold Silver Reports – Nifty Earnings Must Break Six-Year Jinx To Meet FY19 Forecasts — Analysts expect average earnings of companies in the benchmark Nifty 50 Index to grow at its fastest pace in eight years. To be proven right, they will have to break a six-year jinx.
Annual forecasts have fallen short of actual earnings since the year ended March 2012.
To be sure, forecasts are not absolute. Analysts provide estimates on the higher side at the beginning of a year and then revise them lower. The reduction has been in the range of 14-21-percent in the last couple of years, with this year’s EPS growth estimate being revised lower to nearly 8 percent.
Nifty’s earnings per share for the third quarter ended December was Rs 129. That’s a sequential growth of 9.1 percent and a yearly rise of 15.1 percent. For the nine months ended December, the actual EPS stood at Rs 362.4.
EPS is expected to be Rs 142 in the last quarter ending March, That would be a year-on-year growth of 27 percent and a sequential rise of 9.4 percent, taking full-year earnings to Rs 504.4 per compared with Rs 417 last year.
A consensus of five brokerage reports suggests Nifty EPS of Rs 470 this financial year and Rs 577 in the next—a 12.7 percent and 22.8 percent yearly jump, respectively.
UBS though is a bit on the conservative side. “We expect Nifty EPS to grow in high single digits for FY18 and 13-14 percent for FY19,” said Gautam Chhaochharia, executive director and Head, India research at UBS. Goldman Neal Bhai Reports
