AstraZeneca Pharma India Limited

Healthcare — Drug Manufacturers - Specialty & Generic · NSE

₹5,932.00−₹5.00 (−0.08%)

DalalBaazaar Score

65 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

Driven by negative free cash flow, small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:58 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

AstraZeneca Pharma India Limited, a biopharmaceutical company, manufactures, markets, and trades in pharmaceutical products in India and internationally.

IndustryDrug Manufacturers - Specialty & Generic

SectorHealthcare

Employees600

Annual revenue₹2,273 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹2,273 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹8 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹13 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 600 employees supports ₹3.79 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹3.79 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.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

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

ROCE has stayed above 15% in every year available and stands at 25.5%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 21.5% 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.

Peer median ROE14.5%

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 +127% while net margin moved -17% 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+127%

Margin effect-17%

DalalBaazaar Score

65/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 87.4x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
✓ P/E is 37% below its own historical median of 137.9x — cheap by its own standards
✗ P/B of 16.99x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

71/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

39/ 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

87.4x

3Y Median

137.9x

40 monthly readings · mean 141.9x · range 79.1x–206.4x

Sector Median

33.3x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 37% below its 3y median of 137.9x. 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 162% above the peer median of 33.3x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

137.9x median over 40 months · -37%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

33.3x median of 4 peers · +162%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

50.3x

PEG

3.70

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well5

Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from 16.9% to 21.5%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 22.4% to 25.5%.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 25.5% is the mark of a business that converts capital into profit efficiently.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.13x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.
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 · 4 high · 1 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 1435% over 3 years, from ₹7 Cr to ₹111 Cr.
🔴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.
🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 6.1 points, from 18.8% to 12.7%.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 440% against revenue up 127% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹19 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 25.5% 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.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 37% 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?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 18.8% to 12.7%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 162% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
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
4 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 24% a year✓ 31.3% CAGR
Latest reported year was 29.7%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 11%✓ 12.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹19 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.4x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 22%✓ 25.5%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

6 / 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

5 good · 2 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹14,830 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

87.4x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

16.99x

Rich

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

EPS (TTM)

₹67.85

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

21.5%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

25.5%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.13x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

29.7%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-32.1%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

0.61%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

-₹19 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

6.4%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

7.0%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.77

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.23

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

6184.3 / 6836.8

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

29.3

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1,003 Cr	₹1,296 Cr	₹1,713 Cr	₹2,273 Cr	+31.3%
EBITDA	₹189 Cr	₹220 Cr	₹286 Cr	₹288 Cr	+15.1%
EBITDA Margin	18.8%	17.0%	16.7%	12.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹99 Cr	₹162 Cr	₹116 Cr	₹188 Cr	+23.6%
EPS	₹39.7	₹64.6	₹46.3	₹75	+23.6%
ROE	16.9%	22.7%	15.0%	21.5%	—
ROCE	22.4%	30.6%	19.4%	25.5%	—
Total Debt	₹7 Cr	₹5 Cr	₹36 Cr	₹111 Cr	+148.5%
Free Cash Flow	₹50 Cr	₹17 Cr	₹64 Cr	-₹19 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 31.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 15.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 18.8% to 12.7% over 3 years (-6.1 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 23.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 23.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 16.9% to 21.5% over 3 years (+4.6 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 22.4% to 25.5% over 3 years (+3.1 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 148.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹50 Cr to -₹19 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,989 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹1,116 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹448 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹15 Cr

Capex

-₹4 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

9.2%

Insider Holding

81.5%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹36

Ex-Dividend Date

31 Jul 2026

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

1 positive1 mixed1 negative3 general

Here's Why AstraZeneca Pharma India (NSE:ASTRAZEN) Has Caught The Eye Of Investors

Simply Wall Street, 03 Jun

AstraZeneca Pharma India opens new Mumbai corporate office

scanx.trade, 16 Oct

Astrazeneca Pharma India Share Price Near Low, RSI Weak

Univest, 08 Oct

AstraZeneca Pharma shares slip 6% on posting 23% fall in Q4 profit YoY

Business Standard, 27 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.

AstraZeneca Pharma Approves ₹36 Dividend; Shares Fall 0.78%

HDFC Sky, 11 AugCapital return

🟢Potentially positiveCash or shares returned to holders. A buyback is only good value if the shares were cheap when bought.

AstraZeneca Pharma Q1 Results: Net Profit Falls 32% To Rs 38 Crore, Revenue Growth At 30% YoY

NDTV Profit, 10 AugResults

🔴Potentially negativeReported deterioration, which feeds the growth and margin inputs on this page directly.

Watch Items

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.
RSI is in oversold territory — could mean either a bargain or a stock still falling for good reason. Check the 'why' before assuming reversal.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability

MiddlingRisk

WeakValuation

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. 4 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 ↑