Bajaj Finance woos Street with record Q3 profit; analysts see up to 53% upside in stock

Bajaj Finance share price: Analysts see up to 53 per cent upside in the NBFC stock, after the Pune-based company met analysts' estimates with its highest quarterly profit.

Bajaj Finance reported a record net profit for the October-December 2022 period.

Bajaj Finance shares staged a rally on Monday, snapping a three-day fall after the Pune-based non-banking financial company reported a strong set of quarterly numbers post-market hours on Friday. The Bajaj Finance stock gained by Rs 310.1 or 5.4 per cent to Rs 6,066.1 apiece at the strongest level of the day on BSE with huge volumes.

At 2:30 pm, Bajaj Finance shares held on to the green with a gain of Rs 242.1 or 4.2 per cent at Rs 5,998.1 apiece on the bourse. A total of 90,000 Bajaj Finance shares changed hands for hte day so far as against a daily average of 40,000 in the past two weeks, according to provisional exchange data.

Bajaj Finance reported a 39.9 per cent jump in net profit on a year-on-year basis to a record Rs 2,973 crore for the quarter ended December 2022 and 24 per cent growth in net interest income (NII) to Rs 7,435 crore.

According to Zee Business research, Bajaj Finance's quarterly net profit was estimated at Rs 3,000 crore and NII at Rs 5,930 crore.

How brokerages are reading Bajaj Finance's Q3 results

Most brokerages see upside potential in the stock, with JPMorgan's target price being as high as Rs 9,000 — implying a 56 per cent surge compared with Bajaj Finance's closing price on Friday.

Brokerage	Rating	Target price	Upside/downside
CLSA	Reduce	6,000	+4.2%
JPMorgan	Overweight	9,000	+56.4%
Morgan Stanley	Overweight	8,000	+39%
Jefferies	Buy	7,280	+26.5%
HSBC	Reduce	5,460	-5.1%

CLSA upgraded Bajaj Finance to 'reduce' from 'sell' after the company's earnings announcement, with a target price of Rs 6,000. The brokerage's target suggests a five per cent decline in the stock from Friday's closing price.

Jefferies retained a 'buy' call on Bajaj Finance after the results, with a target price of Rs 7,280.

The Bajaj Finance stock lost 10.4 per cent of its value in the third quarter of the current financial year, a period in which headline indices Sensex and Nifty50 rose 5.9 per cent each.