Equity Alert: Sun Pharma erases gains; Jan-Mar net beats estimates

[K.Karthik Raja]

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Equity Alert: Sun Pharma erases gains; Jan-Mar net beats estimates
MUMBAI--11:35AM--Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries erased
gains to
fall 0.7% to 1,436 rupees on profit sales.
Earlier, the stock was trading at an intraday high of 1,484
rupees,
extending gains from the previous session.
Monday, the stock surged almost 6% intraday as the company's Jan-
Mar
consolidated net profit tripled from a year ago to 7.2 bln rupees,
dealers said.
Based on Sun Pharma's better-than-expected Jan-Mar result, Motilal
Oswal has
upgraded the company's core earnings per share estimates by 13-15%
each for
2008-09 and 2009-10 to 54.9 rupees and 66.0 rupees, respectively.
"An expanding generic portfolio coupled with change in product mix
in favour
of high-margin exports is likely to bring in long-term benefits for
Sun Pharma,"
the brokerage said in a report.
"Key drivers for future include ramp-up in US, the expected value
unlocking
by leveraging acquired companies (Able Labs & Valeant) and
monetisation of the
Para-IV pipeline," the report said.
Motilal Oswal has a "buy" recommendation on the stock, with a
price target
of 1,403 rupees.
So far today, 148,333 shares of the company have been traded on
NSE. Its
June futures contract was trading at a 5-point discount to spot, with
a 0.58%
rise in open interest.