ASBL - Ashoka Buildcon delivered a muted Q4 in FY17, with the company's PAT coming in below analyst estimates. Part of the reason here was a shrinking in its EBITDA margins, and higher interest payments.  The company's margins were under pressure from higher raw material and employee costs; toll collections were hit due to persistent effects from demonetization in the Bhandara and Durg projects.

ABL’s FY17 order book saw the highest ever order inflows of Rs 3,926 crore, taking its orderbook to approximately Rs 7005 crore. This doesn't include the L1 status in the Jharkhand rural electrification project, which is worth over Rs. 282 crore. The Jharkhand project is expected to take off sometime in October. 

In its guidance, ABL expects Rs 50 bn of new order intakes for FY18E, and EBIDTA margins to rise to the 12-12.5% band from Q4's 10.4%. One of the key reasons it expects margins to increase is that its share of BOT Road projects is increasing. The roads segment sees a margin of 12-12.5%, versus the T&D segment which sees margins of 9-10%. The company expects order inflow for the coming quarters in FY17-19E to be driven by road projects.

These segments are also set to strongly benefit from government spending, and analysts like HDFC Securities expect ABL order book to multiply 1.6x.  Ashoka Buildcon's share price has been trending below its 150 day average, although the last week has shown it recovering. The average target price from brokerages is Rs. 213.5.