Apollo Hospitals Shares Plummet Despite Strong Q3 Performance

Shares of

experienced a sharp decline of over 7% on February 11th, despite the company reporting better-than-expected Q3 financial results. Trading volumes were significantly higher than usual, with over eight lakh shares changing hands, more than double the one-month daily average. At 11:27 am, the stock was trading at ₹6,329.50 on the NSE, marking a 13% drop year-to-date. A surge of over 16% in open interest on the derivatives market indicated a substantial increase in short positions, further contributing to the selling pressure. Apollo Hospitals' Q3 earnings revealed a strong performance, with net profit soaring 52% year-on-year to ₹372.3 crore, exceeding Moneycontrol's estimate of ₹347 crore. Revenue also saw a healthy 14% YoY increase to ₹5,527 crore, closely aligning with the expected ₹5,575 crore. The company's consolidated revenue growth was fueled by a 15% YoY rise in Apollo Health & Lifestyle Ltd (AHLL) and Apollo Healthco, along with a 13% growth in its core healthcare services segment. Despite these positive results, the market reacted negatively, leading to the significant drop in share price.