India's Ultratech Cement leads fall among cement makers on valuation concerns

Ramco Cements

12/07/2023 06:01

** Shares of  cement manufacturer Ultratech Cement
 ULTC.NS  down as much as 2.08% at 8,152.50 rupees; ULTC is top
Nifty 50 loser
    ** Slide after brokerage UBS downgrades stock to "neutral"
from "buy"
    ** UBS has an anti-consensus negative view of India's cement
sector due to rising competition and expensive valuations
    ** "While we expect strong earnings in next two quarters for
cement companies, any sharp uptick in stock prices could offer
good opportunity to book profits"
    ** UBS also downgrades Ambuja Cements, Dalmia Bharat to
"sell" from "buy"
    ** Global brokerage Nomura expects cement companies to
report rising profitability per tonne of volume, prefers firms
with large brownfield optionality and multi-region presence
    ** Shares of Dalmia Bharat  DALB.NS , Nuvoco Vistas
 NUVO.NS , The Ramco Cements  TRCE.NS , ACC  ACC.NS , Shree
Cement  SHCM.NS  and Ambuja Cements  ABUJ.NS  are down between
0.1% and 2%, respectively

 (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)
 ((bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9769003463;))