Alivus Life Sciences Limited

Healthcare — Drug Manufacturers - Specialty & Generic · NSE

₹1,309.00−₹32.80 (−2.44%)

DalalBaazaar Score

59 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

Driven by high debt relative to equity, small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with modest growth. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:07 pm

Mixed / neutral. No major red flags jump out, but nothing here screams "obviously cheap" either. This is a name that needs a peer comparison and a view on near-term earnings triggers before sizing a position.

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Alivus Life Sciences Limited develops and manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients in India, the United States, Europe, Japan, Russia, Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, China, and Australia.

IndustryDrug Manufacturers - Specialty & Generic

SectorHealthcare

Employees2,272

Annual revenue₹2,504 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹2,504 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹23 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹33 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 2,272 employees supports ₹1.10 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

EBITDA margin32.8%

Net margin22.5%

Revenue / employee₹1.10 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are SUN PHARMACEUTICAL IND L, DR. REDDY S LABORATORIES, CIPLA LTD, DIVI S LABORATORIES LTD. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

SUN PHARMACEUTICAL IND LP/E 34.9x · ROE 14.5%

DR. REDDY S LABORATORIESP/E 31.0x · ROE 8.8%

CIPLA LTDP/E 31.8x · ROE 9.8%

DIVI S LABORATORIES LTDP/E 83.0x · ROE 17.5%

What is its competitive advantage?The numbers suggest a real one

ROCE has stayed above 15% in every year available and stands at 21.8%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 16.9% against a peer median of 14.5% is consistent with that. What that something is — brand, scale, switching costs, regulation — the accounts cannot tell you.

ROCE21.8%

ROE16.9%

Peer median ROE14.5%

What is the outlook?

3 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 12.6% and earnings to grow about 14.1% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+12.6%

Est. earnings growth+14.1%

Analysts3

What has been driving growth?

Growth has come mainly from selling more, rather than from keeping more of each sale. Over 3 years revenue moved +22% while net margin moved -1% 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+22%

Margin effect-1%

DalalBaazaar Score

59/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue CAGR of only 6.9% — barely ahead of inflation
✗ Profit CAGR of only 6.5%

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

61/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

49/ 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

26.7x

3Y Median

24.6x

40 monthly readings · mean 24.6x · range 16.2x–31.3x

Sector Median

33.3x

median of 4 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 3y median of 24.6x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟢Against its sector it trades 20% below the peer median of 33.3x.

vs. its own history

Fair

24.6x median over 40 months · +8%

vs. sector peers

Fair

33.3x median of 4 peers · -20%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

P/E (Trailing)

26.7x

P/B

4.83x

EV/EBITDA

19.7x

PEG

4.09

Dividend Yield

0.38%

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Cash generation is improving
Free cash flow is up 80% over 3 years.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 21.8% 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 Attention3

Debt is rising
Total debt is up 193% over 3 years — worth checking what it funded.
Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 21.8% to 16.9% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 28.5% to 21.8% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

2 items require attention · 2 high

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 193% over 3 years, from ₹19 Cr to ₹57 Cr.
🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 1.70x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 21.8% 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.
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 1.70x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 6.9% 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.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 21.8% to 16.9%. Each rupee of equity earns less than it did, so profit growth increasingly depends on raising more capital rather than on the existing base working harder.
Size brings its own risk
Small 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
2 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 31%✓ 32.8%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Revenue growth stays above 5% a year✓ 6.9% CAGR
Latest reported year was 6.4%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹258 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 19%✓ 21.8%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

10 / 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 · 5 neutral · 1 weak

Market Cap

₹16,071 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

26.7x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

4.83x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹49.03

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

16.9%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

21.8%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

1.70x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

6.4%

Modest

Modest growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

31.7%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.38%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

₹258 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

CMP

₹1,309

P/E (Forward)

20.8x

Improving

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

Operating Margin

29.8%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

23.3%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

5.21

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.07

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

73%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

1363.0 / 1371.4

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

35.2

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹2,048 Cr	₹2,185 Cr	₹2,340 Cr	₹2,504 Cr	+6.9%
EBITDA	₹672 Cr	₹687 Cr	₹711 Cr	₹820 Cr	+6.9%
EBITDA Margin	32.8%	31.4%	30.4%	32.8%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹467 Cr	₹471 Cr	₹486 Cr	₹564 Cr	+6.5%
EPS	₹38.11	₹38.38	₹39.52	₹45.9	+6.4%
ROE	21.8%	20.2%	17.2%	16.9%	—
ROCE	28.5%	26.2%	22.3%	21.8%	—
Total Debt	₹19 Cr	₹17 Cr	₹57 Cr	₹57 Cr	+43.1%
Free Cash Flow	₹143 Cr	₹285 Cr	₹225 Cr	₹258 Cr	+21.7%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 6.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 6.9% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 32.8% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 6.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 6.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 21.8% to 16.9% over 3 years (-4.9 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 28.5% to 21.8% over 3 years (-6.7 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 43.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 21.7% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹3,983 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹651 Cr

Total Debt

₹57 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹2 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹565 Cr

Capex

-₹307 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

7.3%

Insider Holding

76.1%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹5

Ex-Dividend Date

01 Sept 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

4 Buy · 0 Hold · 0 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹1,432.25

+9.4% vs CMP

Target Range

₹1,330 – ₹1,624

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
SUN PHARMACEUTICAL IND L	34.9x	14.5%
DR. REDDY S LABORATORIES	31.0x	8.8%
CIPLA LTD	31.8x	9.8%
DIVI S LABORATORIES LTD	83.0x	17.5%

Recent News

3 mixed3 general

ALIVUS Stock Price and Chart — NSE:ALIVUS

TradingView, 10 May

Alivus Life Sciences Limited Just Recorded A 7.5% EPS Beat: Here's What Analysts Are Forecasting Next

Simply Wall Street, 03 AugAnalyst view

🟡Mixed / dependsBroker commentary — an opinion about the price rather than new information about the business.

Stock Stories: How Alivus Life Sciences is Formulating a High-Growth Future Beyond Traditional Pharma

MarketSmith India, 25 May

Alivus Life Sciences Acquires 9.21% Stake In Torrent Urja 19 To Boost Renewable Focus

Sahi, 07 Oct

Why Is Alivus Life Sciences Share Price Falling: Key Reasons and Investor Analysis 2026

Univest, 14 MayPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

Earnings call transcript: Alivus Life Sciences posts strong Q1 2026 margins

Investing.com, 31 JulResults

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

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

🟢Business QualityStrong15.2/20

🟡Financial HealthAdequate12.5/20

🔴GrowthWeak7.4/20

🟢ProfitabilityStrong10.2/15

🟡ValuationFair8.1/15

🟡RiskModerate5.7/10

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. 2 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

This thesis breaks if

✓EBITDA margin holds above 31%32.8%
✓Revenue growth stays above 5% a year6.9% CAGR
✓Free cash flow remains positive₹258 Cr
✓Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x0.1x
✓ROCE stays above 19%21.8%