Chennai Petroleum Corporation (CPCL) shares declined 4.62% to ₹1,314 on Thursday, marking the second consecutive day of decline after a prolonged rally. According to latest reports, the stock had gained around 14% over a month and delivered a 102.3% return over the past year, but the recent decline comes after a substantial rally. CPCL had jumped 16.79% to hit a 52-week high of ₹1,449 and was later trading 16.39% higher at ₹1,444.05, taking its gains in calendar year 2026 to 70.69%. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) climbed 11.94% to touch ₹182.80 level and closed 10.93% higher at ₹181.15, with the stock climbing 17.86% on a year-to-date basis. The latest decline therefore comes after a substantial rally, making the sustainability of the gains an important focus for investors.
CPCL's Q1FY27 results showed mixed performance with revenue rising 43.5% quarter-on-quarter to ₹27,370 crore from ₹16,817 crore in the March quarter, as reported by Business Standard. However, net profit declined 27% sequentially to ₹1,017 crore from ₹1,400 crore in the preceding quarter. Operating profitability also weakened with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) falling by 23.6% to ₹1,555 crore from ₹2,036 crore, while Ebitda margin narrowed to 5.7% from 12.1%. The company has also recommended a final dividend of ₹54 per share for FY26, subject to shareholder approval. For investors, the key question now is whether CPCL's recent rally can be sustained despite the sequential pressure on profit and operating margins.
The surge in share prices was accompanied by massive trading volumes across both companies. As reported by Business Standard, a combined 11.2 million equity shares changed hands on the NSE and BSE for CPCL, while MRPL saw 38.28 million equity shares traded on the same exchanges. Kranthi Bathini, Director of Equity Strategy at WealthMills Securities, noted that a sustained rise in global crude oil prices, along with healthy gross refining margins (GRMs), could support refiners such as Chennai Petroleum and MRPL. Ravi Singh, Chief Research Officer at Master Capital Services, advised entering CPCL around ₹1,340 with an expected target price of ₹1,450 and stop loss at ₹1,310. For MRPL, he identified resistance around ₹185 level while support is seen at ₹165.
MRPL delivered robust Q1FY27 results with revenue growth of 111.3% year-on-year to ₹38,200 crore, as reported by Business Standard. The company achieved adjusted profit after tax of ₹473.9 crore against a loss of ₹270.7 crore in Q1FY26. Domestic throughput expanded to 4.43 MMT, outpacing gasoline-heavy regional peers via favourable diesel yield arbitrage backed by a high 11.7 Nelson Complexity Index. While EBITDA margin was compressed by 166 bps YoY to 3.4% due to transient inventory headwinds, operational flexibility remained structurally intact.
The strong performance of both companies is attributed to rising crude oil prices and positive sector sentiment. According to Choice Institutional Equities, the brokerage revised upward its FY27E/28E Revenue/EBITDA estimates by 5%/2%/5% on the back of stronger product pricing. Kranthi Bathini from WealthMills Securities emphasized that Q1 results have been quite resilient, and these are the stocks if crude prices stay at elevated levels, the companies are going to get benefitted in the medium- to short-term. Oil prices extended gains after hopes of a US-Iran deal faded, with Brent crude futures up $2.03 or 2.31% at $89.75 a barrel and US WTI crude rising $2.20 or 2.68% to $84.33 a barrel.
