Hindustan Unilever falls on CLSA downgrade report

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) fell more than one percent on Thursday after the foreign research house CLSA downgraded the stock to sell from underperform.

The target price for the stock is set at Rs 430, according to the report.

CLSA feels valuations are expensive for a sub-10 percent earnings growth. The research firm sees demand side headwinds in the discretionary personal care.

At 10:09 hours IST, Hindustan Unilever slipped 1.08 percent to Rs 467.35 on Bombay Stock Exchange.
 
In third quarter of FY13, Hindustan Unilever reported a lower-than-expected 16 percent year-on-year rise in net profit at Rs 871 crore. That coupled with a sluggish volume growth of just 5 percent, compared with 9 percent a year ago and analysts' expectation of at least 7 percent.

Net sales of the largest FMCG company in India rose 12 percent year-on-year to Rs 6,655 crore during the same period.