BUZZ India’s Bajaj Finance falls after Q3 results on valuation concerns

** Shares of non-banking financial co (BJFN.NS)fall as much as 2.2% after rising nearly 4% in early trade

** Stock hit a high of 8,045 rupees in the morning session, their best since Oct. 18

** Co on Tuesday reported over 84% jump in Dec. qtr profit after tax as provisions for bad loans fell and asset quality improved

** BJFN also forecast long-term profit growth in range of 23%-24% and long-term assets under management growth in corridor of 25%-27%

** Even as BJFN produced strong results, analysts flagged extreme valuations

** “We revise our FY22/FY23 earnings estimates by

down by 1%-2% to factor in higher credit costs,” Institutional Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said in a note

** Our “reduce” stance with a revised target price of 5,536 rupees is based on current steep valuations, HDFC Securities said

** About 3.4 mln shares change hands vs 30-day avg of 1.2 mln

** Fifteen out of 29 analysts tracking stock rate it at “buy” or “strong buy”; 7 “sell” or “strong sell”; 7 “hold” – Refinitive data

** BJFN shares gained 32% in 2021 and are up about 14% so far this year

Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru

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