On Thursday, the stock climbed nearly 4 per cent to Rs 260 level amid speculations that e-commerce giant Amazon is planning to invest in ITC e-Choupal. ETMarkets.com could not immediately verify the rumours floating in the market.
Farmers use e-Choupal to order seeds, fertilizers and other products such as consumer goods from ITC or its partners at prices lower than those available from village traders. At harvest time, ITC offers to buy the crop directly from any farmer at the previous day’s closing price.
Reports, citing the company’s claim, say, e-Choupal translates to about 6-10 per cent savings for ITC and 10-25 per cent improvement in productivity for farmers based on the level of adoption of recommended practices, leading to an overall higher income of up to 50 per cent.
ITC shares have been dormant for a long time, even when its peers were delivering multibagger returns. Analysts, though, were unfazed saying its fundamentals are intact and the stock deserves better valuations.
As per Refinitiv database, ITC has a median price target of Rs 266 in 12 months by 35 analysts. The most bullish analyst on ITC has a target price of Rs 345 while the lowest one drops to Rs 198. The consensus rating is ‘buy’.
