The retail favourite or meme stock ITC Ltd is finally making some noise on the D-street, with a continuous upward move in the current year. ITC has finally got going this year, with the shares hitting a 52-week high of Rs 267.75 in Friday’s intra-day deals. The stock gained over 4% and last traded at Rs 267.20 on NSE.

ITC is a diversified conglomerate that is a significant player in the cigarettes-to-hotels segments. It is also the second-largest FMCG company in India, with around 78 per cent market share in cigarettes and a presence in staples, biscuits, noodles, snacks, chocolate, dairy products, and personal care products.

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After a tepid 12 per cent return in the last year, Edelweiss Wealth is highly bullish on ITC shares. The Edelweiss Wealth research says there is a strong possibility of a trend reversal, and the stock may go up to Rs 450 apiece levels in the long term.

Edelweiss Wealth, in a recent report, said it expects ITC fundamentals to fuel share price. “We expect the volume in cigarettes to revive at a CAGR of 5 per cent during FY22–24E as against a CAGR of -1 per cent during FY11–21; FMCG’s EBITDA margin to scale up to higher single digits; and the hotel, paperboard and agri-commodities businesses to revive. This will lead to an earnings CAGR of 12 per cent in FY22–24E against a mere 7% in the last five years.”

However, Kotak Institutional Equities expects high commodity prices to bite consumer goods companies like HUL and ITC.