Essar Oil at 52-week high ahead of Q3 numbers

Private oil & gas producer Essar Oil has touched a new 52-week high of Rs 75.65 amid high volumes on Tuesday ahead of earnings for the third quarter of current financial year 2012-13.

Analysts on an average expect profit after tax at around Rs 30 crore in the quarter as against Rs 105 crore in previous quarter.

Analysts are divided on whether this will be a profitable quarter for the company. Bottomline estimates are in a range from a loss of over Rs 500 crore to a profit of Rs 300 crore for the quarter. But consensus shows likelihood of a marginal profit for the company.

Sales are expected to go up by 7 percent to Rs 22,500 crore in the October-December quarter of 2012 from Rs 21,023 crore in a year ago period. This is the first quarter that will show the full impact of the capacity expansion to 20 MTPA.
 
At 10:28 hours IST, the stock rose 1.23 percent to Rs 74.15 on Bombay Stock Exchange.

In the previous trading session (Monday) too, the share shot up 5.70 percent to close at Rs 73.25.