On Thursday, Dabur India shares turned negative after surging 1% after the company reported earnings for Q1FY23 later in the day.

Earnings estimates for the company are mixed, with revenue growth likely to be in the mid-high single digits, volume growth likely to be in the mid-single digits, and operating margins expected to decline by 200 basis points year over year. One basis point is one-hundredth of one percentage point.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) – a measure of the company’s overall financial performance – is likely to decline by 2.2% from Rs 552.03 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 2022 to Rs 540 crore in Q1FY22.

Margins are likely to hit 19.2% compared to last year’s 21%, while profit after tax (PAT) is expected to rise to Rs 440 crore from Rs 438.3 crore in Q1FY22.

The company reported a 21.98% drop in consolidated net profit at Rs 294.34 crore in March. Its operating income rose 7.74% to Rs 2,517.81 crore compared to Rs 2,336.79 crore in March 2021.

Total expenditure rose 9% to Rs 2,141.04 crore from Rs 1,969.54 crore in the same period last year.

After two years of COVID-19 impact, the food and beverage verticals, including juice, are expected to perform very well in Q1FY23 due to a normal summer, while home and personal care may also be mainly due to higher strong price growth. However, due to the high demand base during COVID-19, the revenue of the healthcare business is likely to decline.

Dabur India shares were down 0.15% at Rs 568 per share at the time of writing. The stock has gained 8.92% in the past month and is down 1.5% this year. Over the past year, the stock has underperformed Sensex by 10.28%.