ITC Ltd has reported an increase of 21.5 per in net profit to Rs 1,514.31 crore in the second quarter of the financial year banked by strong sales of products and decreased losses in the other FMCG business.

The net turnover was up 17.5 per cent at Rs 5,974 crore for the quarter against Rs 5,083 crore due to strong performance in cigarettes, branded packaged foods, education and stationery products and agricultural businesses.

The U. S. International Trade Commission has said in an initial ruling that HTC had violated two patents belonging to Apple.

Apple alleges that HTC’s phones are using features that are patented by the company and are offered on its iPhone smartphone. The ITC administrative law judge said in the initial judgment that HTC infringed upon two of 10 patents Apple had filed a complaint over in March 2010, according to HTC.

Post-opening at 18,776, the BSE Sensex reached many different levels during the entire day. Earlier, the figure touched a day's high of 19,045 and even a day's low of 18,767 but at 3.05 p. m. (IST), the BSE Sensex showed the maximum up thereby reaching to the figure of 19,041 i. e. 314 points, up from its last close, reason behind being the constant buying binge in the index heavyweights.

According to the reports, the constancy has further lifted the main Indian equity benchmarks past key psychological levels in mid-afternoon trade. Also, the reports showed that the BSE Sensex easily crossed the 19,000 milestone whereas the NSE Nifty surpassed the 5,700 mark.

Technical analyst PK Agarwal of Purpleline Investment is bullish on ITC Limited and has maintained 'hold' rating on the stock to attain a target of Rs 180.

Mr. Agarwal said that the stock can be purchased with a stop loss of Rs 163.

Today, the stock of the company opened at Rs 168.85 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 184.70 and a low of Rs 128.50 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 6.17 and 27.57 respectively.

Technical analyst Anil Singhvi has maintained 'buy' rating on ITC Limited stock with an intra-day target of Rs 162.

According to analyst, the stock can be purchased with a stop loss of Rs 150.

The stock of the company, on February 09, marked its closure at Rs 153.75 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 184.70 and a low of Rs 116.62 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 6.17 and 25.59 respectively.

Technical analyst Sanjay Surekha has maintained 'buy' rating on ITC Limited stock with a target of Rs 190.

The analyst said that the stock can be purchased with a stop loss of Rs 160.

The stock of the company, on December 29, closed at Rs 174.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 184.70 and a low of Rs 116.62 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 5.88 and 29.90 respectively.

Stock market analyst Somil Mehta of Sharekhan has maintained buy rating on ITC Limited stock with a target of Rs 190.

The interested investors can buy the stock with a stop loss of Rs 174.

The stock of the company, on Nov 09, closed at Rs 177.50 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 184.70 and a low of Rs 116.62 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 5.88 and 30.20 respectively.

Flying high on agri-business and well-known packaged foods (FMCG), ITC Ltd serrated up a net earnings of Rs 5061 crore in the Q2, trailing up by 16.3 per cent.

Whilst the pre-tax proceeds of the group inclined by 22.7 per cent to Rs. 1830 crore, post-tax profits recorded a development of 23.5 per cent at Rs. 1247 crore. Further the Earnings per Share (EPS) for the quarter remained at Rs
1.63.

Stock market analyst Hitesh Chotalia has maintained 'buy' rating on ITC Limited stock with a target of Rs 185.

According to analyst, the interested investors can buy the stock with a strict stop loss of Rs 168.

The stock of the company, on Oct 06, closed at Rs 173.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 184.70 and a low of Rs 116.62 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 5.57 and 31.13 respectively.

ITC declared that it was open to talks with EIH for a possible collaboration in the coming time.

Stock market analyst Parsh Zaveri of Zaveri Investments has maintained 'buy' rating on ITC Ltd stock with a target of Rs 180.

According to analyst, the interested investors can buy the stock with stop loss of Rs 165.

The stock of the company, on Sep 15, closed at Rs 167.10 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 167.65 and a low of Rs 113.50 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 5.57 and 30.26 respectively.

The nation-wide programme aims to engage youngsters in the age group of 14-21 years, inviting them to discuss transformational ideas for India.

ITC has lined up projects worth Rs. 23,000 crore in its centenary year, across the business segments of FMCG, paper, paperboards and packaging and hotels, taking every opportunity due to the growth of the Indian economy.

The company has passed a resolution to double its share capital to Rs. 1,000 crore and acquisitions are being checked out in all the areas by the company.

For the three month period ended March 2010, ITC Ltd has recorded a surge of 27.1 percent in its net profit after tax (PAT), which stood at Rs 1,028.22 crore as against Rs 808.99 crore for the quarter ended March 2009.

The total income of cigarettes-to-hotels major for the said quarter came up to Rs 5,190.81 crore as compared to Rs 4038.17 crore for the same period of last year.

According to company's statement, "The board recommends a total dividend of Rs. 10 per share for 2009-10 including a special centenary dividend of Rs. 5.50 per share."

Technical Analyst Sudarshan Sukhani has maintained 'buy' rating on ITC Ltd stock to achieve an intraday target of Rs 267.

According to him, interested traders can purchase the stock with a stop loss of Rs 255.

The shares of the company, on May 10, closed at Rs 134.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 272.70 and a low of Rs 182.60 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 10.12 and 25.63 respectively.

Indian Cigarette making conglomerate, ITC Ltd. has said that it is not practical to keep the price of cigarette low; more so after the imposition of duties during the current Union Budget.

Talking to a private news agency, PTI, the spokesperson of the company said that hike in cigarette prices was inevitable since the excise duties have been increased a lot. Najeeb Arif said, "Increase in cigarette prices is inevitable."

ITC is the largest cigarettes maker in India. The company has well known cigarette brands like Gold Flake, Navy Cut, Silk Cut, Capstan, Bristol and Flake. Recently, the company has increased the price of its Gold Flake pack by seven percent. One cigarette pack is made of 10 cigarettes.

Technical Analyst Prakash Gaba has suggested buy call for ITC with a target of Rs 280. Short term traders can enter the stock at current levels with a stop loss of Rs 240.

During an interview on CNBC Awaaz, Mr. Gaba has suggested strong fundamentals for ITC.

The stock has touched 52-week high of Rs 264.75 today on National Stock Exchange. The stock is currently trading at Rs 262, with a gain of 1 per cent. The stock has gained smartly over its 52-week low of Rs 132.

The stock is trading at P/E of 27 compared to industry average P/E of 29.4.

ITC, India's largest cigarette maker by sales, on Friday has registered a 25.81% rise in the net profit of the company in the quarter ending on September 2009.

The company has posted a net profit of Rs 1,009.91 crore for the second-quarter (Q2) ended September 30, 2009, as against Rs 802.72 crore corresponding period, last year.

However the net sales of the company rose from Rs 3,763.29 crore last year to Rs 4,292.59 crore this year, up 14 per cent YoY.

Ahead of good results, the scrip of the company closed on Friday with gain of 5 per cent at Rs 260. The stock has given over 36% of return to its investors in past six month period.

Bhubaneswar, Oct 14 : Fast moving consumer goods major ITC Wednesday signed a deal with Orissa for manufacturing incense sticks in the state - a move that officials say will provide additional income to more than 3,000 rural women.

The agreement was signed by the chief executive of the state-run Orissa Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) B. N. Das, and ITC executive director V. M. Rajsekharan in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

ITC Ltd. reported its Q1 FY10 results is in line with our expectations: Net Sales for Q1 FY10 went up by 4.7% to Rs. 4082.68 crores as compared to Rs. 3899.7 crores in Q1 FY09 and was up by 4.9% from Rs. 3891.81 crores in Q4 FY09.

FMCG and Paper & Packaging businesses grew handsomely on the net revenues front up by 19% and 16% respectively, overall turnover growth for the Quarter was muted at 4.7% due to the de-growth in Hotels and Agribusinesses as compared to the Q1 FY09.

FMCG conglomerate ITC, has posted a 17% rise in its net profit for first quarter ended June 30.

The diversified business house has posted a net profit of Rs 878.70 crore in its latest quarter, as compared to Rs 748.67 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.