At 3:15 pm; the stock was up 3.5% at Rs 291 as compared to 0.71% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter jump more than three-fold with a combined 14.2 million shares changed hands on the BSE and NSE so far.

Thus far in the calendar year 2017, it has outperformed the market by gaining 21.6% against 12.5% rise in the benchmark index.

Analysts at ICICI Securities expect ITC to report 3.9% YoY growth in net sales for the quarter ended March 2017 (Q4FY17), driven by healthy sales in the cigarette, hotel and FMCG segment, which expect to grow 7.9%, 7.0% and 5.9% YoY, respectively.

“We expect the paper segment to grow 3.9%. However, revenue from the agri segment is expected to decline 1.1% YoY. EBITDA margin is expected to expand 157 bps YoY to 27.1%. Led by margin expansion and lower tax outgo, PAT is likely to grow 15.2% YoY,” the brokerage firm said in result preview.

According to Edelweiss Securities “On a base of flattish volumes in cigarette we expect cigarette volumes to decline by around 1-2% YoY in Q4FY17 in cigarettes (Q3FY17 saw flattish volume growth on a base of 4% YoY decline in volumes). FMCG business is expected to see around 10% YoY on a base of 5.4% YoY; Q3FY17 saw growth of 3.4% YoY on a base of 7.1% YoY. Subdued demand in hotels and papers is expected to continue further impact by demonetization.”

“With concerns over the Budget’17 excise duty hike behind, all eyes would now be on the GST rate for cigarettes, which has the potential to alter the overall cigarette taxation dynamics. Going back to FY08, we note that overall taxation went up significantly in the year due to the levy of 12.5% VAT on cigarettes, even as the excise duty was left changed in the Budget,” Religare Institutional Equities said in February report.