Bajaj Auto Sales Rise For Seventh Straight Month

Bajaj Auto Ltd.'s sales rose for the seventh straight month in February, driven by healthy growth in commercial vehicles segment.

The two- and three-wheeler maker sold 3.57 lakh units last month, an increase of 31 percent from the year-ago period, the Pune-based company said today. Overall motorcycles sales rose 21 percent year-on-year to 2.97 lakh units. Motorcycle sales in the domestic market rose 23 percent.

Commercial Vehicles Outperform

Bajaj Auto's commercial vehicle segment outperformed two-wheeler sales on an overall basis. Sales rose 111 percent year-on-year to 60,369 units. The domestic sales in the segment jumped 129 percent to 38,534 units last month

Exports Underperform

The automaker's overall exports rose in February. However, it underperformed against domestic sales.

The company exported 1.43 lakh vehicles last month, an increase of 26 percent from the corresponding month last year. That compares with the total local market sales growth of 35 percent. It exported 1.22 lakh motorcycles in December, an increase of 19 percent year-on-year.

Shares of Bajaj Auto rose as much as 1.8 percent to Rs 3,075 apiece after the announcement. Trading volume was 5.3 times, its 20-day average. The stock trades at 21.7 times trailing 12-month earnings per share and 21 times its estimates for the coming year, Bloomberg data showed.