Ambuja Cements Limited

Basic Materials — Building Materials · NSE

₹360.00+₹9.10 (+2.59%)

DalalBaazaar Score

59 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

Driven by moderate debt load, negative free cash flow, falling profits.

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, 7:00 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Ambuja Cements Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, markets, and sells cement and related products to individual home builders, developers, institutional clients, masons, contractors, architects, and construction professionals in India.

IndustryBuilding Materials

SectorBasic Materials

Employees4,756

Annual revenue₹39,969 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹39,969 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹12 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹18 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 4,756 employees supports ₹8.40 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹8.40 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED, GRASIM INDUSTRIES LTD, SHREE CEMENT LIMITED, DALMIA BHARAT 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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 4.6% 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.

Peer median ROE7.0%

What is the outlook?

30 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 14.2% and earnings to grow about 42.7% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+14.2%

Est. earnings growth+42.7%

Analysts30

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +29% while net margin moved +89% 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+29%

Margin effect+89%

DalalBaazaar Score

59/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ ROCE of 4.6% is below 10% — capital is not working hard
• EBITDA margin of 18.4% is respectable
• Net margin of 11.1% is reasonable
• Revenue has compounded at 8.9% a year, which is the base these returns are earned on

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

56/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

80/ 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

20.4x

4Y Median

33.2x

44 monthly readings · mean 38.4x · range 18.9x–71.1x

Sector Median

36.2x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 39% below its 4y median of 33.2x. 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 44% below the peer median of 36.2x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

33.2x median over 44 months · -39%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

36.2x median of 4 peers · -44%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

12.1x

PEG

0.59

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 14.1% to 18.4% over 3 years.
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

2 items require attention · 2 watch

🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹983 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Shareholders have been dilutedOwnership
Shares outstanding are up 24% over 3 years — each existing share owns a smaller slice of the company.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 14.1% to 18.4%. 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 39% 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 44% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
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?

No clear risk case emerges from the available numbers — which is not the same as there being none.

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

1EBITDA margin holds above 16%✓ 18.4%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹983 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Revenue growth stays above 7% a year✓ 8.9% CAGR
Latest reported year was -7.7%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
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 8%✗ 4.6%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

5 / 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

2 good · 4 neutral · 5 weak

Market Cap

₹89,453 Cr

Mid Cap

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

P/E (Trailing)

20.4x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.50x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹17.66

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

8.0%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

4.6%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

1.21x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-7.7%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-27.5%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

0.56%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

-₹983 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

25.3x

Flat

At or above the trailing multiple — no earnings uplift is being priced in

Operating Margin

7.9%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

11.1%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.05

Adequate

Adequate, but no real cushion

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.20

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

366.9 / 391.8

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

37.6

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (5-Year)

Metric	FY21	FY22	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR	4Y CAGR
Revenue	—	₹30,983 Cr	₹32,530 Cr	₹33,654 Cr	₹39,969 Cr	+8.9%	+8.9%
EBITDA	—	₹4,360 Cr	₹7,410 Cr	₹8,458 Cr	₹7,361 Cr	+19.1%	+19.1%
EBITDA Margin	—	14.1%	22.8%	25.1%	18.4%	—	—
PAT (Net Profit)	—	₹1,938 Cr	₹3,573 Cr	₹4,303 Cr	₹4,728 Cr	+34.6%	+34.6%
EPS	—	₹9.56	₹16.65	₹17.51	₹19.05	+25.8%	+25.8%
ROE	—	—	8.6%	8.0%	8.0%	—	—
ROCE	—	—	11.7%	9.4%	4.6%	—	—
Total Debt	₹477 Cr	—	₹699 Cr	₹789 Cr	₹866 Cr	—	+16.1%
Free Cash Flow	—	-₹5,390 Cr	₹1,163 Cr	-₹6,450 Cr	-₹983 Cr	—	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 8.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 19.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 14.1% to 18.4% over 3 years (+4.3 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 34.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 25.8% a year over 3 years.

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 8.0% over 3 years.

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 11.7% to 4.6% over 3 years (-7.0 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 16.1% a year over 4 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹89,607 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹17,760 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹892 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹5,362 Cr

Capex

-₹6,344 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

22.9%

Insider Holding

69.4%

Corporate Actions

Next Earnings

03 Nov 2026

Dividend Rate

₹2

Ex-Dividend Date

12 Jun 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

26 Buy · 10 Hold · 3 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹480.08

+33.4% vs CMP

Target Range

₹350 – ₹615

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED	37.6x	11.1%
GRASIM INDUSTRIES LTD	34.8x	5.5%
SHREE CEMENT LIMITED	49.7x	7.0%
DALMIA BHARAT LIMITED	33.4x	5.2%

Recent News

1 positive3 mixed2 general

Wondering Why Ambuja Cements Fell? Here's What Bears Saw

Simply Wall Street, 16 Oct

Ambuja Cements share price target: Nuvama, Motilal, other brokerages see up to 30% upside. Here's why

The Economic Times, 29 JulAnalyst view

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

Ambuja Cements Share Price Jumps As Bernstein Upgrades To 'Outperform': Check Target Price

NDTV Profit, 02 JulAnalyst view

🟢Potentially positiveAn analyst opinion changing, which moves the price without changing the business.

Ambuja Cements 52 Week Low Streak: Fundamentals and Peers

Univest, 12 Oct

India's Ambuja Cements flags demand slowdown and high fuel costs as Q2 risks

Reuters, 28 JulResults

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

Ambuja Cements stock: Analyst gives buy call; suggests stop loss, price target

Business Today, 24 JulAnalyst view

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

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-7.7%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Trading very close to its 52-week low — worth checking whether this reflects a temporary setback or a structural problem.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth · Valuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Profitability · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

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 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive; ROCE stays above 8% · see Key things to watch ↑