Bharat Forge down on CLSA snub

Bharat Forge is painted deep red today. From yesterday’s closing of Rs.933.25, it opened weak at Rs.886 and slipped to intra day low of Rs.876.55. It recouped from there and is now at Rs.900 levels, yet down over 3.5% .

The company is due to declare its Q2 numbers on 29th Oct but before that foreign fund CLSA posted its verdict and it was not positive. CLSA has cut the target price of the stock to Rs.745 from Rs.1465, which is a huge 49% cut. And it downgraded the stock from “buy” to “sell”.

The reason? CLSA has reported that the company is getting impacted by simultaneous slowdown in key export segments, viz., heavy-commercial-vehicle sales in the North American market, muted demand from oil & gas sector and slow pace of recovery in domestic industrials business. While blaming the current run on cyclical issues, CLSA, ironically says that it is positive about the company on a long term.

One cannot help but wonder what the foreign fund houses are playing at….