Titan Shares Tank On Subdued Growth In Jewellery Business

Shares of Titan Co. fell over 4% on Monday to the lowest in over a month after it reported subdued growth in the sales of its jewellery segment.

The Tata Group company's domestic jewellery operations grew 8% year-on-year, impacted by higher gold prices and lower wedding days, it said in a business update last week. Domestic growth came largely through an increase in average selling prices, whereas buyer growth was in the low single digits.

In the watches and wearables business, domestic operations rose 14% year-on-year, while revenue in the analog segment rose 17% year-on-year.

JPMorgan downgraded its rating on Titan to 'neutral' from 'buy' as the brokerage is cautious on jewellery growth and intensifying promotional activity, Bloomberg reported. The target price was cut to Rs 3,450 per share from Rs 3,850 apiece earlier, implying a potential upside of 5.5% from the previous close.

Titan's stock fell as much as 4.12% in early trade to Rs 3,204 apiece on the NSE, the lowest since June 4. It was trading 3.7% lower at Rs 3,147 per share, compared to a 0.03% advance in the benchmark Nifty as of 9:35 a.m.

Titan share price has risen 3.3% in the last 12 months and declined 14% on a year-to-date basis. The total traded volume so far in the day stood at 7.4 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 30.

Sixteen out of the 31 analysts tracking the company have a 'buy' rating on the stock, 10 recommend 'hold' and five suggest 'sell', according to Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analyst price targets implies a potential upside of 15%.