Times they are a-changin'

Looks like Sajjan Jindal knows the tide is turning for good for the steel industry, or so it seems. The promoter of JSW Steel has been on a buying spree with group entity JSW Investments ramping up its stake from 3.69% in August to 4.61% in November, with the last transaction of 137,000 shares coming at a price of ₹868.7 a share. Since the beginning of November, another promoter entity Reynold Traders has been buying shares from the open market, thus increasing its stake from 0.54% to 0.75%. The last transaction of 125,000 shares came at an average price of ₹844 a share. In fact, the stock has been on outperformer since the fiscal year began. While Sensex is up 8%, the stock has gained over 39% to its current level of ₹919. As of September, the promoters hold 36.25% stake, nearly half of which is pledged with financial institutions as collateral in lieu of a credit facility. Though steel demand has been largely subdued, hints of an uptick were seen in the second quarter. Net sales were up 30% y-o-y at ₹12,796 crore, while operating profits were up 45% y-o-y to ₹2,160 crore with an operating margin of 17%, belying analysts expectations. Little wonder that Jindal sees merit in making hay while the sun shines.