CLSA downgrades Bajaj Auto shares to ‘sell’ on outlook

CLSA has downgraded Bajaj Auto to “sell” from “underperform” despite better-than-expected July-September results,saying profit margins should weaken in the second half of the fiscal year as product-mix worsens and input cost pressures rise.

CLSA says Bajaj’s valuations are also “expensive” at 16 times fiscal 2015 price-to-earnings.

Bajaj,India’s second-largest motorcycle maker by sales,reported on Wednesday a second-quarter profit that beat analyst estimates as a weaker rupee gave export earnings a boost.

Bajaj Auto were up 0.13 per cent at 0753 GMT,under-performing the 1.93 per cent gain in the NSE index.