Gayatri Highways Limited

Industrials — Infrastructure Operations · NSE

₹1.83+₹0.06 (+3.39%)

DalalBaazaar Score

32 / 100

🔴 Weak

Verdict

HIGH RISK

Risk

Very High

Driven by negative shareholders' equity — the company owes more than it owns, negative free cash flow, the company is currently loss-making.

In simple words: The company owes more than it owns — years of losses have wiped out its net worth, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Solvency — whether it can keep funding itself at all — is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:46 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Gayatri Highways Limited operates as a construction and investment company India. It is involved in the business of construction, operations and maintenance of carriageways on toll, roads, highways, vehicle bridges and tunnels, and toll roads.

IndustryInfrastructure Operations

SectorIndustrials

Employees3

Annual revenue₹15 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹15 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-8 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹138 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 3 employees supports ₹4.85 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹4.85 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., ADANI PORT & SEZ 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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 8.1% 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 ROE15.2%

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +91% while net margin moved -100% 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+91%

Margin effect-100%

DalalBaazaar Score

32/ 100

Weak

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Shareholders' equity is negative — accumulated losses exceed the capital in the business

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

36/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

30/ 100

Expensive

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

Weak on business quality and not cheap enough to compensate.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Not enough peers with a usable P/E

vs. generic bands

N/A

Multiples unreliable — equity base is negative

EV/EBITDA

32.7x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 74% over 3 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

🔴Negative shareholders' equityFinancial
Liabilities exceed assets — accumulated losses have wiped out the company's net worth.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹1 Cr in the latest reported year.
🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 260.5 points, from 398.9% to 138.4%.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 696% against revenue up 91% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹27 Cr in the latest year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 74% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Solvency comes before everything else
Liabilities exceed assets. Until net worth is rebuilt, the equity is a claim on a business that owes more than it owns, and further losses or a funding squeeze can leave shareholders with nothing.
Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 398.9% to 138.4%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 30.8x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 696% against revenue up 91%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
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.

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

1Revenue growth stays above 18% a year✓ 24.0% CAGR
Latest reported year was 155.7%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 136%✓ 138.4%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 30.8x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
4Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹27 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.

Investment Checklist

4 / 10 checks passed

✗ Shareholders' equity is positive (assets exceed liabilities)
✗ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✗ Generates positive free cash flow
✓ 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

1 good · 4 neutral · 6 weak

Market Cap

₹44 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

Not meaningful

Loss-making

Earnings are negative, so a P/E multiple can't be read here

P/B Ratio

Not available

No data

Source didn't return this field

EPS (TTM)

₹-0.09

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

Not meaningful

Negative equity

Return on equity can't be read when equity itself is negative

ROCE

8.1%

Distorted

Distorted by the negative net worth — read this alongside the solvency flag, not on its own

Debt/Equity

Not meaningful

Negative equity

Shareholders' equity is negative, so this ratio can't be read

Revenue Growth (YoY)

155.7%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-100.1%

Falling

Profits are shrinking

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

-₹27 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

7.0%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

-8.9%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.26

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.84

Market-like

Moves roughly in line with the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

1.8 / 1.9

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

47.5

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹8 Cr	₹2 Cr	₹6 Cr	₹15 Cr	+24.0%
EBITDA	₹30 Cr	-₹102 Cr	₹213 Cr	₹20 Cr	-12.8%
EBITDA Margin	398.9%	-5948.6%	3739.6%	138.4%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹140 Cr	-₹441 Cr	₹1,129 Cr	-₹1 Cr	—
EPS	₹-5.85	₹-18.41	₹47.1	₹-0.05	—
ROCE	—	—	86.9%	8.1%	—
Total Debt	₹2,411 Cr	₹2,123 Cr	₹653 Cr	₹620 Cr	-36.4%
Free Cash Flow	₹93 Cr	₹312 Cr	₹175 Cr	-₹27 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 24.0% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 12.8% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 398.9% to 138.4% over 3 years (-260.5 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 86.9% to 8.1% over 3 years (-78.8 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 36.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹93 Cr to -₹27 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹990 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹1,618 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹6 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

-₹27 Cr

Capex

-₹0 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.0%

Insider Holding

64.6%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
ADANI PORT & SEZ LTD	29.9x	14.1%

Recent News

2 mixed4 general

Gayatri Highways vs Nifty 50: Share Price Performance Compared

Univest, 24 Sept

Gayatri Highways Ltd. Key Financial Ratios – Valuation, Profitability & More

Value Research, 30 Aug

Gayatri Highways extends HKR stake acquisition deadline to Sep 30, 2026

scanx.trade, 23 JunM&A

🟡Mixed / dependsAcquisitions change the balance sheet before they change the earnings. Look at what was paid, how it was funded, and whether debt rose.

Gayatri Highways Share Price Target 2027, 2028 and 2030: Long Term Analyst Forecast

Univest, 07 AugAnalyst view

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

Gayatri Highways Q1FY27 net loss widens to ₹274.94 lakh; auditors resign

scanx.trade, 13 Aug

Gayatri Highways Share: Road Infrastructure Buy in 2026?

Univest, 18 Aug

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.
1 metric couldn't be retrieved for this stock — this is more common for smaller or thinly-covered listings.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Avoid until solvency is resolved

Gayatri Highways Limited owes more than it owns. Whatever the operating numbers show, the equity is a residual claim on a business with negative net worth, and that question has to be settled before any of the rest is worth weighing. 4 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

2 of 4 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑