Bajaj Auto Share Price Rises After Company Clarifies Freedom 125 Pricing, Sales Data

Shares of Bajaj Auto Ltd. rose nearly 3% in intraday trade on Thursday after the company clarified inaccuracies in a brokerage report regarding sales volumes and price adjustments for its Freedom 125 and Pulsar models.

On Wednesday, UBS had claimed that Bajaj Auto had gone for price cuts of up to Rs 10,000, just five months after the launch of the Freedom 125. Bajaj said there had been price cuts only in the base and mid variants of the two-wheeler. There were no price cuts for the top variant, which accounts for 72% of Freedom 125's sales.

The company stated that 67,000 Freedom 125 units were billed to dealers as of Nov. 30, with 40,000 retailed and 33,000 registered on the Vahan portal. It noted that the portfolio’s top variant, priced at Rs 1,10,000, remained unchanged, while prices for the base and mid variants were revised in October to Rs 90,000 and Rs 95,000, respectively.

Bajaj Auto said Pulsar price changes, including increases and reductions, were part of regular measures to enhance competitiveness, and had a nominal net impact on the quarter’s performance.

Bajaj Auto stock rose as much as 2.89% during the day to Rs 9,148.95 apiece on the NSE. It was trading 2.51% higher at Rs 9,115 apiece, when the benchmark Nifty 50 was trading flat as of 11:16 a.m. 

It has risen 50.32% in the last 12 months and 34.21% on a year-to-date basis. Total traded volume so far in the day stood at two times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 37.48.

Twenty out of the 47 analysts tracking Bajaj Auto have a 'buy' rating on the stock, 11 recommend a 'hold' and 16 suggest a 'sell', according to Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analysts' price targets implies a potential upside of 22.2%.