Acutaas Chemicals Limited

Basic Materials — Specialty Chemicals · NSE

₹3,200.00+₹67.50 (+2.15%)

DalalBaazaar Score

71 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, negative free cash flow, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:59 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of Acutaas Chemicals Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Acutaas Chemicals Limited engages in the research and development, manufacture, and sale of pharmaceutical intermediates in India and internationally.

IndustrySpecialty Chemicals

SectorBasic Materials

Employees1,007

Annual revenue₹1,329 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,329 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹27 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹39 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 1,007 employees supports ₹1.32 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.32 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED, PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD, SRF LTD, UPL LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

What is its competitive advantage?Some evidence

ROCE of 27.7% is above what capital typically costs, which suggests some pricing power, though not yet the sustained, wide gap that marks a durable advantage.

Peer median ROE22.3%

What is the outlook?

8 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 33.5% and earnings to grow about 33.8% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+33.5%

Est. earnings growth+33.8%

Analysts8

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +117% while net margin moved +97% relative to itself. What this cannot tell you is which products, customers or geographies did the work — that lives in the segment disclosures of the annual report.

Revenue effect+117%

Margin effect+97%

DalalBaazaar Score

71/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 68.1x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
✓ P/E is 27% below its own historical median of 92.8x — cheap by its own standards
✗ P/B of 15.85x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

80/ 100

Excellent

How good the business is, ignoring the share price entirely.

Valuation

46/ 100

Fair

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

68.1x

3Y Median

92.8x

40 monthly readings · mean 112.8x · range 47.8x–227.7x

Sector Median

40.4x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 27% below its 3y median of 92.8x. Cheaper than its own history, which is worth a reason too: the market may be pricing in something the backward-looking numbers do not show.

⚠️Against its sector it trades 69% above the peer median of 40.4x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

92.8x median over 40 months · -27%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

40.4x median of 4 peers · +69%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

49.9x

PEG

1.09

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well5

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 20.8% to 39.2% over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from 14.0% to 21.5%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 19.0% to 27.7%.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 27.7% is the mark of a business that converts capital into profit efficiently.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

3 items require attention · 3 high

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 889% over 3 years, from ₹4 Cr to ₹36 Cr.
🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 2.08x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 4 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 27.7% means each rupee reinvested earns well above what capital costs. If the company can keep deploying at this rate, growth creates value rather than just consuming cash.
Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 20.8% to 39.2%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 27% below its own median multiple. If the business performs as it has and simply re-rates back to normal, that gap is return on its own.
Earnings have proved durable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years. Consistency lowers the risk that any single bad year is structural rather than cyclical.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 2.08x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 69% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
Earnings are hard to forecast
Profit has swung sharply from year to year, so any single year — good or bad — is a weak guide to the next. Cyclical earnings deserve lower multiples for that reason.
Several serious flags at once
3 high-severity checks triggered. Individually each has an explanation; together they raise the chance that something structural is wrong rather than a one-off.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1Revenue growth stays above 22% a year✓ 29.4% CAGR
Latest reported year was 59.1%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 37%✓ 39.2%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹36 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.1x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 25%✓ 27.7%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

8 / 12 checks passed

✓ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✓ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✓ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ Generates positive free cash flow
✗ Manageable leverage (Debt/Equity < 1.0)
✓ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✓ Revenue growing year-over-year
✓ Profit growing year-over-year
✗ Not trading at an extreme valuation (P/E < 40x)
✓ Not buying right at the 52-week high
✓ Analyst consensus isn't majority-sell
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

5 good · 2 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹26,199 Cr

Mid Cap

Mid-sized — more growth headroom, but sharper swings than large caps

P/E (Trailing)

68.1x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

15.85x

Rich

Steep premium to book — needs high, durable returns to justify

EPS (TTM)

₹47

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

21.5%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

27.7%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

2.08x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

59.1%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

67.1%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.08%

Modest

Small cash return — most of the return has to come from the price

Free Cash Flow

-₹36 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

43.7x

Improving

Below the trailing multiple — the street expects earnings to grow into the price

Operating Margin

31.3%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

26.4%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

3.82

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.02

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

75%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

3219.3 / 3234.6

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

45.7

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹613 Cr	₹713 Cr	₹1,000 Cr	₹1,329 Cr	+29.4%
EBITDA	₹128 Cr	₹136 Cr	₹248 Cr	₹521 Cr	+59.8%
EBITDA Margin	20.8%	19.0%	24.8%	39.2%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹83 Cr	₹43 Cr	₹159 Cr	₹356 Cr	+62.3%
EPS	₹11.43	₹5.83	₹19.81	₹43.37	+56.0%
ROE	14.0%	6.3%	12.1%	21.5%	—
ROCE	19.0%	10.8%	16.5%	27.7%	—
Total Debt	₹4 Cr	₹217 Cr	₹13 Cr	₹36 Cr	+114.6%
Free Cash Flow	-₹31 Cr	-₹190 Cr	-₹76 Cr	-₹36 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 29.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 59.8% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 20.8% to 39.2% over 3 years (+18.4 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 62.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 56.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 14.0% to 21.5% over 3 years (+7.5 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 19.0% to 27.7% over 3 years (+8.7 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 114.6% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,984 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹273 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹216 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹292 Cr

Capex

-₹328 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

28.6%

Insider Holding

38.3%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹2.5

Ex-Dividend Date

17 Sept 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

7 Buy · 0 Hold · 2 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹3,324.78

+3.9% vs CMP

Target Range

₹1,783 – ₹4,001

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%
PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD	57.8x	24.4%
SRF LTD	33.8x	15.4%
UPL LIMITED	21.5x	6.1%

Recent News

3 mixed3 general

Acutaas Chemicals Opens Korea Plant; Shares Rise 0.50%

HDFC Sky, 28 AugPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

Acutaas Chemicals completes acquisition of Enchem Ami Organics

scanx.trade, 17 OctM&A

🟡Mixed / dependsAcquisitions change the balance sheet before they change the earnings. Look at what was paid, how it was funded, and whether debt rose.

Acutaas Chemicals (ACUTAAS) Share/Stock Price Live, NSE

TechGraph, 09 Oct

Acutaas Chemicals - 10 stocks held by 100+ MF schemes in September rally up to 205% in CY26; 6 turn multibaggers

The Economic Times, 16 Oct

Acutaas Chemicals drops 7% despite 70% jump in Q1 PAT; stock up 180% in 1yr

Business Standard, 24 JulResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

Acutaas Chemicals: A compelling business at an unforgiving price

Value Research, 06 Apr

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability

MiddlingFinancial Health · Risk

WeakValuation

Points for each in the Score ↑

Good business at a fair price

A sound business at a reasonable valuation. Suitable for a long-term holding, with the valuation and the direction of margins worth watching rather than the business itself. 3 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑