London-based BAT has seen a sell-off in its shares in the past week, rendering its market cap below ITC to $64 billion. The stock fell sharply after the company said it would take a hit of around $31.5 billion as it wrote down the value of some US cigarette brands, acknowledging that its traditional combustible market has no long-term future.
The shares, which have been among the top performers in the Sensex pack, jumped nearly 2% in intraday trade to hit a fresh 52-week high. The stock was last trading at Rs 488.25, up 1.96% on BSE.Despite a solid run this year, analysts are still gung-ho on the stock on firm structural prospects.
ITC commanded a market value of Rs 2,68,633.5 crore, as of December 31, 2021. Retail investors and HNIs together held 13.65 per cent stake in the company then.