Analysts expect Tata Motors' India business to turn around by FY19
The Tata Motors' stock has gained about six per cent since the start of the month, on expectation of improved volumes, both at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), its entity abroad, and the standalone level (largely India operations). What will help at JLR is that the management has retained its margin expectation of 14-15 per cent for the medium term, citing a winding down of unfavourable foreign exchange hedging (likely over the next couple of quarters), higher scale from new launches such as the Discovery and Velar, and a better sales mix. What adds to the stock's attraction is the single-digit price to earnings ratio for FY19, of 9.7.While this is a positive, the Street will also eye a turnaround in Indian operations. While the latter now contributes very little to the consolidated entity's operating profit, the standalone operations had a combined net loss of Rs 8,100 crore in the past four financial years (FY14-17), after adjusting for one-off transactions (exceptional items) of Rs 2,385 ..05-10-2017
