The freight operator's consolidated net profit rose to 3.67 billion rupees ($44.11 million) for the three months ended Sept. 30 from 3.03 billion rupees a year earlier.

Revenue from operations climbed about 10.5% to 21.95 billion rupees, while higher rail freight costs pushed total expenses by more than 11% to 18.18 billion rupees.

The company also declared a dividend of 3 rupees per share.

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KEY CONTEXT

An industry-wide increase in exports and imports in the country benefitted the cargo operator, whose two-thirds of revenue comes from the segment, according to analysts.

Jefferies had earlier flagged that dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) are likely to improve rail connectivity and help the state-run company regain market share, which came under stress due to increased competition from private cargo terminal operators.

Strong demand also led peer Transport Corporation of India to post a 20% rise in Q2 profit last month.

PEER COMPARISON

Valuation (next Estimates (next 12 Analysts' sentiment

12 months) months)

RIC PE EV/EBITDA Revenue profit Mean # of Stock to Div

growth growth rating analyst price yield

s target (%)

Container 29.08 17.45 11.99 15.98 HOLD 11 0.95 1.63

Corporation of

India Ltd

Mahindra Logistics 52.18 7.77 13.58 372.01 HOLD 10 0.87 0.71

Ltd

Aegis Logistics 19.00 11.89 10.54 9.91 HOLD 5 0.72 2.38

Ltd

Allcargo Logistics 15.36 6.45 -5.55 0.14 BUY 3 0.74 1.29

Ltd

* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

JULY-SEPTEMBER STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from LSEG

-- $1 = 83.2100 Indian rupees

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sohini Goswami)