Shares of Cera Sanitaryware hit a 52-week high of Rs 6,397.65, up 8% on the BSE in intraday trade on Monday, on a healthy outlook. The stock surpassed the previous high of Rs 6,224.95 on February 14, 2023. The S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.59% at 60,641 at 2:46 pm.

Over the past month, Cera has outperformed the market as its market price surged 20%, while the S&P BSE Sensex remained unchanged.

For the October-December quarter (Q3FY23), Cera reported better-than-expected earnings as the company’s stand-alone profit after tax (PAT) rose 33% year-on-year to Rs 56.37 crore on the back of strong operating performance. Operating income rose 18% year-on-year to Rs 455.8 crore. EBITDA margin improved 170 basis points to 18.4% from 16.7% a year earlier. The healthy growth in PAT and revenue was driven by a healthy demand environment, supported by continued customer interest in improving and upgrading homes.

Management said that over the past quarter, the company continued to witness strong demand for its products, as overall replacement demand remained positive and consumers continued spending money on home upgrades and improvements. Management said the pace of sales of new homes and existing residential condominiums remained very strong.

Management said demand conditions remained healthy, supported by a pick-up in the home improvement market and continued growth in new home sales. The company has maintained its guidance of doubling its revenue in about 3.5 years (from FY22) and improving margins by 50-75 basis points per year.