Affordable Robotic & Automation Limited

Industrials — Specialty Industrial Machinery · NSE

₹170.00+₹4.53 (+2.74%)

DalalBaazaar Score

52 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, but sales are shrinking. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:07 pm

Caution warranted. Multiple fundamental metrics — flagged in red below — point to either valuation stretch, leverage risk, or weakening profitability. This doesn't mean avoid the stock outright, but it does mean the burden of proof is on the growth story to justify the current price.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Affordable Robotic & Automation Limited provides turnkey automation Solution in India.

IndustrySpecialty Industrial Machinery

SectorIndustrials

Employees244

Annual revenue₹118 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹118 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹6 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹15 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 244 employees supports ₹48.2 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

EBITDA margin15.1%

Net margin5.9%

Revenue / employee₹48.2 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are SIEMENS LTD, ABB INDIA LIMITED, LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., HAVELLS INDIA LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

SIEMENS LTDP/E 88.8x · ROE 10.5%

ABB INDIA LIMITEDP/E 92.6x · ROE 19.1%

LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.P/E 30.1x · ROE 15.2%

HAVELLS INDIA LIMITEDP/E 43.5x · ROE 17.1%

What is its competitive advantage?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 10.7% are at or below what the capital likely costs. That is the financial pattern of a business competing largely on price, where advantage has to come from execution rather than position.

ROCE10.7%

ROE6.3%

Peer median ROE17.1%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +4% while net margin moved +211% 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+4%

Margin effect+211%

DalalBaazaar Score

52/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✓ Beta of 0.24 — historically steadier than the index
✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Profits have swung sharply from year to year — earnings are hard to forecast
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

52/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

73/ 100

Cheap

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

31.4x

2Y Median

40.2x

26 monthly readings · mean 53.3x · range 21.1x–121.2x

Sector Median

66.2x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 22% below its 2y median of 40.2x. 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 53% below the peer median of 66.2x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

40.2x median over 26 months · -22%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

66.2x median of 4 peers · -53%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

P/E (Trailing)

31.4x

P/B

1.73x

EV/EBITDA

15.1x

PEG

0.66

Dividend Yield

None

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 7.5% to 15.1% over 3 years.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 8.6% to 10.7%.
Valuation below its historical average
At 31.4x the stock trades 22% below its own median of 40.2x.

🔴 What Needs Attention3

Debt is rising
Total debt is up 70% over 3 years — worth checking what it funded.
Free cash flow is negative
The business is not currently covering its capital spending from operations.
Inventory building faster than sales
Inventory is up 80% against revenue growth of 4% — stock may not be moving.

Red Flags

3 items require attention · 3 high

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 70% over 3 years, from ₹43 Cr to ₹74 Cr.
🔴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.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 80% against revenue up 4% — stock may not be moving.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 7.5% to 15.1%. 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 22% 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.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 53% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 4.2x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 1.2% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.
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.
Size brings its own risk
Micro Cap businesses are thinly traded, so exits are harder in a falling market and single events move the price more than they would for a larger company.
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

1EBITDA margin holds above 13%✓ 15.1%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 4.2x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹3 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 2.9x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✗ 1.2% CAGR
Latest reported year was -41.2%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.

Investment Checklist

5 / 11 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
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

2 good · 6 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹201 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

31.4x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.73x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹5.42

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

6.3%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

10.7%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.67x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-41.2%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

159.8%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

-₹3 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

CMP

₹170

Operating Margin

-35.3%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

5.3%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.74

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.24

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

32%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

168.6 / 169.2

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

39.3

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹114 Cr	₹163 Cr	₹162 Cr	₹118 Cr	+1.2%
EBITDA	₹9 Cr	₹18 Cr	-₹3 Cr	₹18 Cr	+27.7%
EBITDA Margin	7.5%	10.8%	-1.6%	15.1%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹2 Cr	₹6 Cr	-₹12 Cr	₹7 Cr	+47.8%
EPS	₹2.12	₹5.72	₹-10.36	₹6.2	+43.0%
ROE	3.6%	5.7%	-11.6%	6.3%	—
ROCE	8.6%	9.3%	-3.8%	10.7%	—
Total Debt	₹43 Cr	₹51 Cr	₹61 Cr	₹74 Cr	+19.4%
Free Cash Flow	-₹5 Cr	-₹7 Cr	-₹29 Cr	-₹3 Cr	—

🟡 Revenue has been broadly flat over 3 years (1.2% a year).

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 27.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 7.5% to 15.1% over 3 years (+7.6 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 47.8% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 43.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 3.6% to 6.3% over 3 years (+2.7 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 8.6% to 10.7% over 3 years (+2.1 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 19.4% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹258 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹148 Cr

Total Debt

₹74 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹7 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹7 Cr

Capex

-₹10 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

54.6%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%
ABB INDIA LIMITED	92.6x	19.1%
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
HAVELLS INDIA LIMITED	43.5x	17.1%

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

Affordable Robotic & Automation Share Price Forecast to 2030

Univest, 14 Jul

Affordable Robotic & Automation Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 29 Aug

ATRI Energy Transition Acquires 5.10% Stake in Affordable Robotic via Preferential Allotment

scanx.trade, 16 Apr

Promoter Milind Padole acquires shares in Affordable Robotic & Automation, signals confidence in growth

BusinessLine, 30 Mar

Affordable Robotic & Automation reports consolidated net loss of Rs 4.80 crore in the June 2026 quarter

Business Standard, 14 AugResults

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

Have Affordable Robotic & Automation Insiders Been Selling Stock?

Simply Wall Street, 07 Nov

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-41.2%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🟡Business QualityAdequate10.5/20

🟡Financial HealthAdequate10.8/20

🟡GrowthModest11.3/20

🔴ProfitabilityWeak6.2/15

🟡ValuationFair9.5/15

🔴RiskHigh4/10

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you. 3 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

This thesis breaks if

✓EBITDA margin holds above 13%15.1%
✗Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x4.2x
✗Free cash flow remains positive-₹3 Cr
✗Interest cover stays above 3x2.9x
✗Revenue growth stays above 4% a year1.2% CAGR