Aptus Pharma Limited

Healthcare — Medical Distribution · BSE

₹472.65+₹9.25 (+2.00%)

DalalBaazaar Score

65 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity, 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. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:48 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Aptus Pharma Limited engages in the marketing and distribution of finished pharmaceutical formulations.

IndustryMedical Distribution

SectorHealthcare

Employees91

Annual revenue₹47 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹47 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹10 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹16 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 91 employees supports ₹51.2 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹51.2 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are SUN PHARMACEUTICAL IND L, CIPLA LTD, DR. REDDY S LABORATORIES, APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTER. L. 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 29.3% 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 ROE14.5%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +235% while net margin moved +609% 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+235%

Margin effect+609%

DalalBaazaar Score

65/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 152.0x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
✗ P/E is 70% above its own historical median of 89.6x — expensive by its own standards
✗ P/B of 34.72x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

78/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

34/ 100

Expensive

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

A good business, but the price already reflects that. The quality is real; the question is whether you are overpaying for it today.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

152.0x

1.3Y Median

89.6x

15 monthly readings · mean 87.5x · range 18.8x–154.1x

Sector Median

33.3x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Current valuation is approximately 70% above its 1.3y median of 89.6x. Paying more than usual needs a reason — faster growth, a better balance sheet, or a re-rating you believe in.

⚠️Against its sector it trades 356% above the peer median of 33.3x.

vs. its own history

Expensive

89.6x median over 15 months · +70%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

33.3x median of 4 peers · +356%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

108.8x

PEG

0.81

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 4.1% to 16.1% over 3 years.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 12.8% to 29.3%.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 29.3% 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

5 items require attention · 5 high

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 225% over 3 years, from ₹2 Cr to ₹7 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.
🔴Profit up while operating cash flow fallsFinancial
Reported profit rose but cash generated by operations declined — worth checking whether earnings are being supported by non-cash items or working capital.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 682% against revenue up 235% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 490% against revenue up 235% — stock may not be moving.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 29.3% 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 4.1% to 16.1%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
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?

Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 682% against revenue up 235%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
The price already assumes success
The stock trades 70% above its own median multiple. At this level the business has to deliver just to stand still, and a stumble is repriced twice — lower earnings on a lower multiple.
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
5 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 37% a year✓ 49.6% CAGR
Latest reported year was 117.5%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 14%✓ 16.1%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹8 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 1.0x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 26%✓ 29.3%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

7 / 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

6 good · 2 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹811 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

152.0x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

34.72x

Rich

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

EPS (TTM)

₹3.11

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

30.5%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

29.3%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.31x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

117.5%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

111.2%

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

-₹9 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

ROA

13.5%

Good

Assets are working hard

Operating Margin

13.2%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

9.9%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.82

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

100%

Near high

Near its 52-week high

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

390.0 / 338.5

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

88.7

Overbought zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹14 Cr	₹18 Cr	₹25 Cr	₹47 Cr	+49.6%
EBITDA	₹1 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹8 Cr	+135.6%
EBITDA Margin	4.1%	8.4%	19.4%	16.1%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹0 Cr	₹1 Cr	₹3 Cr	₹5 Cr	+187.6%
EPS	₹0.11	₹0.47	₹1.81	₹3.11	+201.7%
ROE	20.1%	45.2%	44.5%	19.8%	—
ROCE	12.8%	21.7%	45.7%	29.3%	—
Total Debt	₹2 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹10 Cr	₹7 Cr	+48.1%
Free Cash Flow	-₹1 Cr	-₹3 Cr	-₹2 Cr	-₹8 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 49.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 135.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 4.1% to 16.1% over 3 years (+12.0 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 187.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 201.7% a year over 3 years.

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 19.8% over 3 years.

🟢 ROCE has risen from 12.8% to 29.3% over 3 years (+16.5 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 48.1% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹44 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹20 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹1 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹6 Cr

Capex

-₹2 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

72.9%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
SUN PHARMACEUTICAL IND L	34.9x	14.5%
CIPLA LTD	31.8x	9.8%
DR. REDDY S LABORATORIES	31.0x	8.8%
APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTER. L	54.3x	22.0%

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

Aptus Pharma Upper Circuit Streak: Day 2 Price and Data

Univest, 12 Oct

Aptus Pharma Ltd Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 31 Aug

Aptus Pharma Limited Share Price

Upstox, 05 May

Aptus Pharma Share Price: sector comparison and valuation

Univest, 06 Oct

Aptus Pharma shares gain on growth plan, preferential issue; key details

Business Today, 24 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.

Aptus Pharma board approves fund raising up to ₹51 Cr

scanx.trade, 12 Jun

Watch Items

Trading very close to its 52-week high — momentum-driven entries here carry more mean-reversion risk.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.
RSI is in overbought territory — momentum entries here carry more short-term pullback risk.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability

WeakValuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Good business, demanding price

The quality is real and the price already reflects it. Buying here is a bet that the business keeps compounding for long enough to grow into the multiple — which good businesses often do, but it removes the margin for error that a lower price would have given you. 5 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 ↑