Hero MotoCorp: Festive Season Holds Key To Re-Rating; JPMorgan Remains 'Overweight'

JPMorgan On Hero MotoCorp: Hero MotoCorp may have more riding on the upcoming festive season than just seasonal sales. JPMorgan believes the two-wheeler maker's attractive valuation leaves scope for a re-rating if it can hold market share through the festive period and narrow its growth gap with peers over the medium term.

JPMorgan has maintained its Overweight rating on Hero MotoCorp with a target price of Rs 6,845, highlighting the company's reorganisation into four independent businesses and several levers across ICE commuters, scooters and electric vehicles.

The brokerage also sees growth potential in exports through Hero MotoCorp's “local-for-local” strategy, while its EV strategy is being pursued through multiple initiatives.

Festive Sales Could Decide The Near-Term Narrative

JPMorgan points to diverging wholesale and retail trends, with festive inventory build-up getting delayed.

ALSO READ: Medanta Adds 47% More Beds, Occupancy Still Rises; Investec Initiates With 'Buy' — Can Margins Catch Up?

Against this backdrop, the brokerage believes the upcoming festive period will be important for Hero MotoCorp. Its ability to hold market share on a year-on-year basis could provide a trigger for a valuation re-rating, particularly given the stock's attractive valuation.

JPMorgan also sees scope for the company to close its growth gap with peers over the medium term.

Q1 Growth Was Strong, But Margins Took A Hit

Hero MotoCorp's Q1 FY27 standalone revenue rose 35.7% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 12,999 crore, while volumes increased 23% to 16.7 lakh units.

EBITDA rose 25% to Rs 1,727 crore, although the margin contracted to 13.3% from 14.4% a year earlier. Net profit increased 29% to Rs 1,454 crore.

Margins came under pressure from rising commodity costs and an adverse product mix. Management had retained its 14–16% medium-term EBITDA margin guidance, while acknowledging that a return to the range may not happen in the short term.

Management said net commodity inflation had an approximately 4.5% impact and expects a marginal uptick in input-cost inflation in Q2.

EV Capacity Is Being Scaled Up

Hero MotoCorp has also been advancing its electric motorcycle strategy.

The company has increased EV production capacity from 15,000 units a month to 30,000 units, with plans to reach close to 45,000 units per month before the end of FY27.

Around 60% of its EV portfolio is now PLI-certified, with management targeting 100% certification by December.

For JPMorgan, however, the immediate valuation trigger remains clear: Hero MotoCorp needs to defend its market share during the festive season and demonstrate that it can narrow the growth gap with peers.

ALSO READ: Track All Live Stock Market Updates Here

Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.