Business News

Cipla shares surged 6.4% to Rs 1,425 in Monday's trade on BSE after the firm reported a net profit of Rs 939 crore for the quarter ended March 2024. The profit surged 79% from Rs 525 crore posted in the last-year period.Its revenue from operations increased 7% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 6,163 crore in the March quarter.Meanwhile, EBITDA for the quarter under review increased 13% YoY to Rs 1,316 crore as against 1166 crore in the last year period.Also Read: Tata Motors shares fall 7% on downgrades after Q4 resultsThe company's board has also recommended a payment of final dividend of Rs 13 per equity share for the financial year ended March 2024.Should you buy or sell Cipla's stock? Here's what analysts say:Kotak Institutional EquitiesKotak Institutional Equities retained its 'Add' rating on Cipla with a target price of Rs 1,550 (Rs 1,545 earlier)."In a seasonally weak quarter, Cipla delivered a steady performance with 12% YoY EBITDA growth. Armed with a healthy growth outlook despite the regulatory hurdles, Cipla has guided for a robust 24.5-25.5% EBITDA margin in FY2025E (KIE: 24.5%)," Kotak said."Cipla’s key launch pipeline is largely on track with delayed reinspection of the Goa facility by the US FDA being a risk. Apart from the US, the outlook in India and the SA private market stays upbeat. We expect Cipla to report a robust 16% ex-gRevlimid EPS CAGR over FY2024-27E," it said.Motilal OswalMotilal Oswal reiterated its 'Buy' call on Cipla with a target price of Rs 1,600."While g-Revlimid contributed meaningfully to overall earnings for FY24, we expect a 12% earnings CAGR over FY24-26. This would be largely driven by: commercialization of complex assets in the US and outperformance of chronic therapies in the DF segment, a transformed operating model in trade generics, and sustained growth in the consumer healthcare segment," it said.Prabhudas LilladherPrabhudas Lilladher reiterated its 'Accumulate' call on Cipla with a target price of Rs 1,405."We continue to remain positive on key segments growth including India & US given strong traction in respiratory & other portfolios, potential +10% growth in domestic formulations, and sustainability of current US revs," it said.InCred EquitiesInCred Equities maintained its 'Hold' rating on Cipla with a target price of Rs 1,479."We expect FY25F to be a moderate year for Cipla, with key launches pushed back to FY26F, and expect the stock to be range-bound in the medium term. Our FY25F/26F earnings are reset by +1%/+4%, respectively, factoring in higher margins," it said.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced the class 12 board results today. Earlier there were expectations that it may announce the result after May 20. However, cbse.gov.in released the result today. Students can check the CBSE board results on cbse.gov.in. Additionally, CBSE Class 12 results will be accessible through the Umang mobile app, DigiLocker, and the IVRS system.Last year, the CBSE results were declared on May 12th.This year, approximately 39 lakh students took part in the CBSE Class 10th and 12th exams. The Class 10th exams were conducted from February 15th to March 13th, while the Class 12th exams commenced on February 15th and concluded on April 2nd, 2024.18417 schools gave the CBSE class XII examinations at 7126 centres. This year the overall pass percentage is 87.98 a 0.65 percent increase since 2023. The Trivandrum region registered the highest pass percentage at 99.91 per centIn the overall Delhi region, a 94.9 per cent pass percentage was recorded. 91.52% of Girls passed the exam whereas 85.12% of boys passed the exam with the Girls outshining boys by 6.40%.Following the announcement of results, students have the opportunity to check their scores online through the official CBSE website. The website offers a user-friendly interface, enabling students to easily and promptly access their results. To view their results, students need to provide their roll number, date of birth, and other required information.The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced that students dissatisfied with their exam results can verify their marks, obtain photocopies of their answer books, and request re-evaluation. It's important to adhere to the specified timelines for these procedures, as late requests or offline submissions will not be entertained due to examination safety.Also Read: CBSE Class 12 Toppers List 2024: Check toppers' names, districts, marks, rank list and other details hereCBSE class 12 results: Girls vs boys passing percentageGirls outshine boys by over 6.40 percentage points; over 91 per cent girls pass exams. 87.98 pc students pass board exams, pass percentage up by 0.65 since last year.— ANI (@ANI) How to check CBSE Class 10, 12 results onlineTo check the results, go to the official CBSE results website.Choose your preferred Class (either 10th or 12th) from the available options.Add your roll number and date of birth into the specified fields.Click on the "Submit' button.The results of your CBSE Class 10th or 12th will appear on the screen, showing information such as your name, marks achieved in individual subjects, and overall grade.You have the option to download a copy of your results for future reference.

He once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Now Michael Cohen is prosecutors' biggest piece of legal ammunition in the former president's hush money trial. But if Trump's fixer-turned-foe is poised to offer jurors this week an insider's view of the dealings at the heart of prosecutors' case, he also is as challenging a star witness as they come. There is his tortured history with Trump, for whom he served as personal attorney and problem-zapper until his practices came under federal investigation. That led to felony convictions and prison for Cohen but no charges against Trump, by then in the White House. Cohen, who is expected to take the stand Monday, can address the jury as someone who has reckoned frankly with his own misdeeds and paid for them with his liberty. But jurors likely also will learn that the now-disbarred lawyer has not only pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and a bank, but recently asserted, under oath, that he wasn't truthful even in admitting to some of those falsehoods. And there is Cohen's new persona - and podcast, books and social media posts - as a relentless and sometimes crude Trump critic. As Trump's trial opened, prosecutors took pains to portray Cohen as just one piece of their evidence against Trump, telling jurors that corroboration would come via other witnesses, documents and the ex-president's own recorded words. But Trump and his lawyers have assailed Cohen as an admitted liar and criminal who now makes a living off tearing down his former boss. "What the defense is going to want the jury to focus on is the fact that he's a liar" with a blemished past and a tetchy streak, said Richard Serafini, a Florida criminal defense lawyer and former federal and Manhattan prosecutor. "What the prosecution is going to want to focus on is 'everything he says is corroborated - you don't have to like him,'" Serafini added. "And No. 2, this is the guy Trump chose." LOYALIST TURNED FOE Cohen's early-2000s introduction to Trump was a classic New York real estate story: Cohen was a condo board member in a Trump building and got involved on Trump's side of a residents versus management dispute. The mogul soon brought Cohen into his company. Cohen, who declined to comment for this story, had had an eclectic career that veered from practicing personal injury law to operating a taxi fleet with his father-in-law. He ultimately functioned as both a Trump lawyer and shark-toothed loyalist. He worked on some deal-making efforts but also spent much of his time threatening lawsuits, berating reporters and otherwise maneuvering to neutralize potential reputational dings for his boss, according to congressional testimony that Cohen gave after breaking with Trump in 2018. The rupture came after the FBI raided Cohen's home and office and Trump began to distance himself from the attorney. Cohen soon told a federal court that he had helped candidate Trump wield the National Enquirer tabloid as a sort of house organ that flattered him, tried to flatten his opponents and bottled up seamy allegations about his personal life by buying stories or flagging them to Cohen to purchase. Trump says all the stories were false. Those arrangements, which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office portrays as a multipronged scheme to keep information from voters, are now under a microscope at Trump's hush money trial. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records so as to veil reimbursements to Cohen for paying off porn performer Stormy Daniels. She claimed a 2006 sexual encounter with the married Trump, which the former president has denied. Other witnesses have testified about the hush money dealings, but Cohen remains key to piecing together a case that centers on how Trump's company compensated him for his role in the Daniels payoff. Trump's defense maintains that Cohen was paid for legal work, not a cover-up, and that there was nothing illegal about the agreements he facilitated with Daniels and others. A WITNESS WITH HISTORY In criminal trials, many witnesses come to the stand with their own criminal records, relationships with defendants, prior contradictory statements or something else that could affect their credibility. Cohen has a particular set of baggage. In testimony, he will need to explain his prior disavowals of key aspects of the hush money arrangements and to convince jurors that this time he is telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Still in the Trump fold when the Daniels deal came to light, he initially told The New York Times that he had not been reimbursed, later acknowledging repayment - as did Trump, who had previously said he did not even know about the Daniels payout. Then, in the course of two federal guilty pleas, Cohen admitted to tax evasion, orchestrating illegal campaign contributions in the form of hush money payments, and lying to Congress about his work on a possible Trump real estate project in Moscow. He also pleaded guilty to signing off on a home equity loan application that understated his financial liabilities. While many types of convictions may be used to question a witness' credibility, when crimes involve dishonesty, "there's a treasure trove of stuff there for a cross-examiner," Serafini said. Moreover, Cohen raised new questions about his credibility while testifying last fall in Trump's civil fraud trial. During a testy cross-examination - he answered some questions with a lawyerly "objection" or "asked and answered" - Cohen insisted he was not quite guilty of tax evasion or the loan application falsehood. Ultimately, he testified that he had lied to the now-deceased federal judge who took his plea. The fraud trial judge found Cohen's testimony credible, noting that it was corroborated by other evidence. But a federal judge suggested that Cohen perjured himself either in his testimony or his guilty plea. Since splitting with Trump, Cohen has confronted his past lies head-on. His podcast's title - "Mea Culpa" - gestures at a reckoning with his crimes, and he acknowledged in the foreword to his 2020 memoir that some people see him as "the least reliable narrator on the planet." At his 2018 sentencing, he said his "blind loyalty" to Trump made him feel "it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds, rather than to listen to my own inner voice and my moral compass." Outside court, he has cast himself as an avatar of anti-Trump sentiment. In social media salvos as the trial opened, Cohen used a scatological nickname for Trump, taunted him to "keep whining, crying and violating the gag order, you petulant defendant!" and commented acerbically on his defense. The posts could give Trump's lawyers fodder to paint Cohen as an agenda-driven witness out for revenge. In a nod to that vulnerability, Cohen posted two days after opening statements that he would cease commenting on Trump until after testifying, "out of respect" for the judge and prosecutors. Yet in a live TikTok this past week, Cohen wore a shirt featuring a figure resembling Trump with his hands cuffed, behind bars. After Trump's lawyers complained, Judge Juan M. Merchan exhorted prosecutors Friday to tell Cohen that the court was asking him not to make any more statements about the case or Trump. To Jeremy Saland, a New York criminal defense lawyer and former Manhattan prosecutor, Cohen's background is not such a hurdle for prosecutors. "Where Cohen has the problem is: He doesn't shut his trap," Saland said. "He just constantly takes shots at his own credibility." Prosecutors will need to persuade Cohen to be forthright, acknowledge his past wrongdoing and rein in his freewheeling commentary, Saland said, or the case can become "the Michael Cohen show." Indeed, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche used his opening statement to hammer on Cohen's "obsession" with Trump and his admitted past lying under oath. "You cannot make a serious decision about President Trump relying on the words of Michael Cohen," Blanche told jurors. But prosecutor Matthew Colangelo characterized Cohen as someone who made "mistakes," telling jurors they could believe him nonetheless. Meanwhile, prosecutors have pointed to remarks Trump has made about Cohen and others to accuse him of multiple violations of a gag order that bars him from commenting on witnesses, jurors and some other people connected to the case. The judge has held Trump in contempt, fined him a total of $10,000 and warned that jail could follow if he breached the order again. Prosecutors also have not shied from testimony about Cohen's combative personality. A banker testified that Cohen was seen as a "challenging" client who insisted everything was urgent. Daniels' former lawyer, Keith Davidson, described his first phone call with Cohen as a screaming "barrage of insults and insinuations and allegations." While such episodes might not be flattering to Cohen, eliciting them could be a way for prosecutors subtly to indicate he is not their teammate, but simply a person with information, said John Fishwick Jr., a former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. "It's a way to try to build up his credibility while you distance yourself from him," he suggested. When Cohen takes the stand, prosecutors would be wise to address his problematic past before defense lawyers do, said New York Law School professor Anna Cominsky. She taught a course with Bragg before he became district attorney, but she offered comments as a legal observer, not someone privy to his office's strategy. "I imagine in their closing arguments," Cominsky said, "that the prosecutor is going to look right at the jury and say, 'This is not a perfect witness, but none of us are.'" ___ Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak and Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this report.

Indian market is likely to consolidate on Monday tracking mixed global cues.The S&P BSE Sensex fell more than 140 points while the Nifty50 is trading closer to 22,000 in the first 15 minutes of trade.Sectorally, some selling pressure was seen in metal, telecom, public sector, and auto while buying was seen in capital goods and FMCG stocks.On the weekly options front, the maximum Call OI is placed at 22500 and then towards 22400 strikes while maximum Put OI is placed at 22,000 and then towards 21,600 strikes.Call writing is seen at 22,500 and then towards 22100 strikes while Put writing is seen at 22000 and then towards 21700 strikes.“Options data suggests a broader trading range in between 21500 to 22500 zones while an immediate range between 21800 to 22300 levels,” Chandan Taparia, Analyst-Derivatives at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited, said.FIIs have been sellers in the cash segment to the tune of Rs 21619.1 cr while DIIs have bought equities worth Rs 17367 cr in the week gone by.“There has been a significant deterioration in the FII Index Futures Long Short Ratio to 34% from 43% a week ago,” Sudeep Shah, Deputy Vice President and head of Technical and Derivative Research, at SBI Securities, said.“The zone of 21750-21700, which are the prior swing lows of March & April 2024, will act as a crucial support for #Nifty. Any sustainable move below the level of 21700 will lead to further selling pressure in the index. In that case, it is likely to test 21500, followed by 21350 in the short term,” he said.“While, on the upside, the 50-day EMA zone of 22,200-22,250 is likely to act as an immediate hurdle for the index. Any sustainable move above the level of 22250 will lead to short-covering up to 22,480-22,530 levels,” recommended Shah.We have collated a list of stocks from the F&O basket along with cash market from various experts for traders who have a short-term trading horizon:Expert: Chandan Taparia, Analyst-Derivatives at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited told ETBureauHindustan Unilever: Buy| Target Rs 2465| Stop Loss Rs 2310Eicher Motors: Buy| Target Rs 4850| Stop Loss Rs 4555Bharti Airtel: Buy| Target Rs 1360| Stop Loss Rs 1270Expert: Kunal Bothra, Market Expert told ETNowBosch: Buy| Target Rs 31500| Stop Loss Rs 29900Sun TV: Buy| Target Rs 700| Stop Loss Rs 653Biocon: Buy| Target Rs 320| Stop Loss Rs 288(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)