Technical analyst Kunal Saraogi maintained 'buy' rating on Hindustan Zinc Limited stock with a short term target of Rs 1440.

According to analyst, the stock can be purchased with a stop loss of Rs 1335.

The stock of the company, on January 24, closed at Rs 1368.20 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 1438 and a low of Rs 924 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 103.88 and 13.17 respectively.

Hindustan Zinc Ltd has registered a growth of 12.3% in its net profit, which stood at Rs 1,289.6 crore for three month period ended December 2010.

The Vedanta Group firm recorded gains on the back of all time high production of zinc and lead.

Company's net sales surged 17.3% to Rs 2,601.5 crore for Oct-Dec period as compared to Rs 2,216.7 crore during the same period of 2009.

The manufacture of Zinc and lead metal in the third quarter increased 11% to 2.2 lakh tonnes, whereas it made 1.8 lakh tonnes of refined zinc, 20% over the last quarterly period.

According to the company, "The increase was primarily on account of higher volumes, operational efficiencies and improved LME (London Metal Exchange) prices and partly offset by appreciation of Indian rupee against the US dollar and increases in the cost of production."

The rate of zinc and lead during the third quarter remained at $2,315 per tonne and $2,390 per tonne, respectively.