Reliance share price gains ahead of Q3 results today. Buy or sell?

Reliance Industries share price gained on Thursday ahead of the announcement of its earnings for the third quarter of FY25. Reliance share price rose nearly 1% to ₹1,264.30 apiece on the BSE.

Reliance Industries Q3 results are set to be out today, January 16. The billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led oil-to-telecom-to-retail conglomerate is estimated to report a mixed set of numbers in Q3FY25.

RIL is estimated to post strong earnings growth in the telecom business Jio, improvement in refining margins, and a modest growth in the retail business.

However, RIL’s core oil-to-chemical (O2C) segment is estimated to post muted earnings in the quarter ended December 2024. RIL’s O2C EBITDA is expected to grow 2% QoQ due to a recovery in refining margins.

“Reliance Industries is expected to post mixed performance led by strong telecom earnings growth, improvements in refining margins, and moderate retail growth. The company's EBITDA is expected to see a sequential 6% improvement, mainly driven by earnings from more substantial refining margins and higher ARPU in digital services. However, it maintained that the YoY comparison remains flat, led by weakness in energy and more muted retail growth,” said Prathamesh Masdekar, Research Analyst, Stoxbox.

According to him, these challenges are already well known, as management flagged that restructuring operations will remain a drag on retail earnings through Q4.

“Overall, we expect that increasing store footprint, operating leverage in Reliance Retail, net subscribers' additions from Jio, and Petchem pricing will contribute to Reliance Industries’ performance in Q3FY25,” Masdekar said.

Should you buy Reliance shares ahead of Q3 results today?

Reliance share price has fallen 20% in six months, while the stock has declined over 8% in one year.

"Reliance shares are in a corrective downtrend and the stock is bottoming out, attempting a trend reversal. RIL stock has formed a base around ₹1,200 - 1,230 levels following a bullish divergence of RSI. This shows a likely reversal from the downtrend,” said Milan Vaishnav, CMT, MSTA, founder of Gemstone Equity Research & Advisory Services.

Vaishnav advised existing shareholders to remain invested in Reliance shares, while new traders can enter at the current market price for a medium-term target of ₹1,340 per share. 

At 12:30 PM, Reliance shares were trading 0.73% higher at ₹1.261.45 apiece on the BSE, commanding a market capitalisation of more than ₹17.07 lakh crore.

Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.