India's Aster DM Healthcare's Q1 profit rises on strong flu season-led demand

Max Healthcare Institute

31/07/2024 16:26

BENGALURU, July 31 (Reuters) - Indian hospital chain operator Aster DM Healthcare  ATRD.NS  reported
a rise in first-quarter profit on Wednesday, helped by higher occupancy during the flu season.
    The company's quarterly consolidated profit from continuing operations surged 81.3% to 810 million
rupees ($9.7 million) from a year ago. This excludes a gain of 51.48 billion rupees in the first quarter
from the sale of its Gulf business.
    Revenue from operations climbed 19% to 10.02 billion rupees, the company said.
    
    KEY CONTEXT
    Aster DM, like rival Apollo Hospitals  APLH.NS , largely makes its money from operations in southern
India. Analysts expect hospital chains in the region to benefit from the acute flu season that, apart from
coinciding with the June quarter, is known to bring diseases such as dengue and malaria.
    Other rivals of the company, including Fortis  FOHE.NS  and Max Healthcare  MAXE.NS , are expected to
have a subdued quarter as North India - their larger revenue avenue - experiences the acute season September
onwards.
    A rise in the number of surgical cases also boosted Aster DM's revenue, said analysts. 
    
    PEER COMPARISON
                                              Estimates (next           Analysts' sentiment         
                                              12 months)                                            
                    RIC        PE     EV/EBI  Profit growth (%)  Mean      # of      Stock to       Div
                                      TDA                        rating*   analysts  price          yield
                                                                                     target**       (%)
 Aster DM            ATRD.NS   40.74   23.29        65.66        Buy              6      0.85           0.58
 Healthcare                                                                                         
 Apollo Hospitals    APLH.NS   58.21   29.53        47.48        Buy             24      0.98           0.24
 Enterprise                                                                                         
 Max Healthcare      MAXE.NS   55.38   37.35        33.82        Buy             17      1.10           0.11
 Institute                                                                                          
 Fortis Healthcare   FOHE.NS   43.71   23.44        32.47        Buy             13      0.94           0.20
 * Mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell
 ** Ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is
trading above the PT
    
    APRIL TO JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE
    -- All data from LSEG
    -- $1 = 83.6400 Indian rupees

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APRIL TO JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE    https://tmsnrt.rs/3LMpfTY
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 (Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
 ((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com; 8800437922;))