Century Plyboards (India) Limited

Basic Materials — Lumber & Wood Production · NSE

₹674.40+₹2.80 (+0.42%)

DalalBaazaar Score

46 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

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

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, with both sales and profits growing well. Valuation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:49 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Century Plyboards (India) Limited engages in the manufacture and sale of plywood, laminates, decorative veneers, medium density fiber boards (MDF), pre-laminated boards, particle boards, and flush doors in India.

IndustryLumber & Wood Production

SectorBasic Materials

Employees10,043

Annual revenue₹5,375 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹5,375 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹5 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹12 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 10,043 employees supports ₹53.5 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹53.5 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA STEEL LIMITED, JSW STEEL LIMITED, ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED, ASIAN PAINTS 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 13.9% 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 ROE22.3%

What is the outlook?

17 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 13.9% and earnings to grow about 36.3% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+13.9%

Est. earnings growth+36.3%

Analysts17

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +48% while net margin moved -53% 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+48%

Margin effect-53%

DalalBaazaar Score

46/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 51.5x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
• P/E is close to its own historical median of 53.6x
✗ P/B of 5.75x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

46/ 100

Average

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 reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

51.5x

3Y Median

53.6x

40 monthly readings · mean 61.6x · range 36.6x–99.4x

Sector Median

28.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 3y median of 53.6x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

⚠️Against its sector it trades 79% above the peer median of 28.7x.

vs. its own history

Fair

53.6x median over 40 months · -4%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

28.7x median of 4 peers · +79%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

26.1x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 19.7% to 10.1% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 26.7% to 13.9% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 2 high · 2 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 440% over 3 years, from ₹327 Cr to ₹1,765 Cr.
🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 5.2 points, from 17.1% to 11.9%.
🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 30% over 3 years.
🟡Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 106% against revenue up 48% — stock may not be moving.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

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 17.1% to 11.9%. 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 79% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 19.7% to 10.1%. 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

1Revenue growth stays above 10% a year✓ 14.0% CAGR
Latest reported year was 33.5%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 10%✓ 11.9%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✗ 2.8x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
4Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹45 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
5ROCE stays above 11%✓ 13.9%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

7 / 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

4 good · 5 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹14,983 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

51.5x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

5.75x

Rich

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

EPS (TTM)

₹13.09

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

10.1%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

13.9%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.67x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

33.5%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

54.9%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.15%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

₹45 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

26.3x

Improving

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

Operating Margin

9.2%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

5.0%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.05

Adequate

Adequate, but no real cushion

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.26

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

23%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

681.9 / 723.2

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

41.0

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹3,632 Cr	₹3,863 Cr	₹4,508 Cr	₹5,375 Cr	+14.0%
EBITDA	₹621 Cr	₹575 Cr	₹496 Cr	₹640 Cr	+1.0%
EBITDA Margin	17.1%	14.9%	11.0%	11.9%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹376 Cr	₹326 Cr	₹185 Cr	₹263 Cr	-11.3%
EPS	₹16.93	₹14.69	₹8.34	₹11.82	-11.3%
ROE	19.7%	14.8%	7.8%	10.1%	—
ROCE	26.7%	18.8%	11.6%	13.9%	—
Total Debt	₹327 Cr	₹771 Cr	₹1,586 Cr	₹1,765 Cr	+75.5%
Free Cash Flow	-₹53 Cr	-₹598 Cr	-₹668 Cr	₹45 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 14.0% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA has been broadly flat over 3 years (1.0% a year).

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 17.1% to 11.9% over 3 years (-5.2 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 11.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 11.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 19.7% to 10.1% over 3 years (-9.7 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 26.7% to 13.9% over 3 years (-12.8 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 75.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹53 Cr to ₹45 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹5,104 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹2,473 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹30 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹457 Cr

Capex

-₹412 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

20.6%

Insider Holding

71.9%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹1

Ex-Dividend Date

09 Sept 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

14 Buy · 4 Hold · 0 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹895

+32.7% vs CMP

Target Range

₹756 – ₹1,164

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA STEEL LIMITED	19.8x	10.8%
JSW STEEL LIMITED	12.0x	24.7%
ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED	37.6x	11.1%
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%

Recent News

2 positive1 mixed3 general

Is Century Plyboards the Best Stock in Its Sector? A Look at the Numbers

Univest, 14 Oct

Ecoboard Industries Ltd Share Price

Business Today, 16 Oct

CENTURYPLY Forecast — Price Target — Prediction for 2027

TradingView, 25 JunAnalyst view

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

Century Plyboards (India) consolidated net profit rises 54.84% in the June 2026 quarter

Business Standard, 31 JulResults

🟢Potentially positiveReported improvement. Check whether it came from volume, price or a one-off item before treating it as a trend.

Century Plyboards Can Outperform Peers, Says HDFC Securities; Maintains 'Buy' — Check Target Price

NDTV Profit, 21 AugAnalyst view

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

Century Plyboards (India) Ltd. Share Price Live Today

CNBC TV18, 03 Jan

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

MiddlingFinancial Health · Profitability · Risk

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Valuation

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

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x · see Key things to watch ↑