Railway stocks tank up to 16% amid profit booking. Ircon, RITES among top laggards

Railway stocks fell up to 16% on Tuesday amid profit-booking, following a strong rally ahead of the Union Budget 2024. The decline was led by Ircon International (16%), followed by state-run Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) and RITES, which fell up to 8.5%. The country’s most valuable railway counter, Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), dropped nearly 6% around 11:30 am.Others, including Texmaco Rail & Engineering, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), Titagarh Rail Systems, and Jupiter Wagons, plunged up to 8%.Ircon’s gains over the last five trading sessions stand at 15%, while those of IRFC, RVNL, and RITES have gained up to 16, 28%, and 8%, respectively.Despite a sharp decline, several railway counters hit their 52-week high before taking a U-turn. IRFC, RVNL, Jupiter Wagons, and Ircon were among the ones who hit their 52-week highs in the opening trade.

Most of the above-mentioned stocks have been multibaggers and given up to 400% returns over the past 12 months. Government-owned IRFC has delivered 392% returns during this period, and the stock is currently trading in a strongly overbought zone. Meanwhile, RVNL’s gains have been to the tune of 280%. The returns by Texmaco, Titagarh Rail Systems, and Jupiter Wagons have been above 200% each. RITES and IRCTC have been laggards in the pack with 65% and 50% returns, respectively, on a 1-year basis.

With today’s declines, IRFC’s market capitalisation has slipped to 2.10 lakh crore, which is still above the market cap of Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj

Auto. On Friday, a 10% rally helped the stock cross the Rs 2 lakh crore m-cap, making it more valuable than 21 Nifty stocks.The stock has seen an exponential rise in its price from its 52-week low of Rs 25.40 on March 28, 2023, jumping by over a staggering 500% in less than a year.(You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)

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