Shares of a leading pharmaceutical firm Lupin plunged 6.4 percent on Monday, February 13 after the company reported a 72 percent decline in consolidated net profit at ₹153 crore for the third quarter that ended December 31, 2022 in comparison to a net profit of ₹545 crore for the October-December period last year.
During Monday’s trade, the stock opened at a price of ₹720 per share negatively against the previous close of ₹737.15 per share and dipped further during the early trading session to touch an intraday low of Rs. 689.40.
The stock touched a 52-week-high of ₹805.45 on February 11, 2022 and a 52-week-low of ₹583 on May 25, 2022, indicating that at the current level, the stock is trading over 18 percent above its 52-week low and 14 percent below its 52 week high.
The stock has dropped over 8 percent in the last one month. In the last one year, the stock has declined almost 9 percent. Similarly, the stock has yielded a negative return of 16 percent in last five years.
On Friday, the company reported that in contrast to the net profits, the total revenue from operations, however, increased to ₹4,322 crore as compared with ₹4,161 crore in the year-ago period.
"Sales in the US have improved on the back of new product launches and the brand acquisition we made during the quarter. Excluding the impact of genericization on our diabetes portfolio, the India business has performed in line with the market," stated Nilesh Gupta, Managing Director of the company.
In other developments, the company has received approval from the US health regulator to market a generic medication, used before a surgery to decrease the volume of secretions from mouth, lungs and stomach, in the American market.
The company has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for Glycopyrrolate Injection, a generic equivalent of Hikma Pharmaceuticals' Robinul Injection, the official filing informed.
Domestic brokerage Motilal Oswal downgraded Lupin to 'sell' after the pharmaceutical company reported a slump in the financial results of the third quarter of FY23, Moneycontrol reported.
The reasons that Motilal Oswal listed for cutting the company's EPS include "increased operational costs on account of field force addition, a gradual revival in the domestic formulation (DF) segment, and higher financial leverage".
Lupin Ltd., established in 1983, is a large-cap business with a market capitalization of ₹34,080.13 crore working in the pharmaceutical industry. The company develops and commercializes a range of branded and generic formulations, biotechnology products, and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in over 100 markets in the United States, India, South Africa, and across the Asia Pacific, Latin America, and others.
According to a Mintgenie poll, an average of 39 analysts have a ‘HOLD’ call on the stock.
