Brokerage houses give Hindustan Unilever stock a thumbs up despite weak earnings

MUMBAI: Shares of Hindustan Unilever stayed resilient in the sharp sell-off on Monday after about 15 out of 25 leading brokerages maintained their buy or outperform ratings following the third-quarter results.

While the results were below estimates, the company’s move to transfer Rs 2,187 crore to profit and loss from general reserves lifted sentiment. Analysts said the company could announce a dividend or special dividend or buyback.

“Notwithstanding price deflation and crash in global commodities, HUL seems set to gain meaningfully in the medium term, given that it has invested ahead of its peers in product innovations, marketing and distribution revamp, market development in premium segments across categories and gained market share in key cateories,” said Amnish Aggarwal, analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher. The stock rose 0.8% to close at Rs 810.60 on BSE on Monday. The Sensex dropped 1.1%.