Gayatri Projects Limited

Industrials — Engineering & Construction · NSE

₹21.36+₹1.01 (+4.96%)

DalalBaazaar Score

64 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

Moderate

Driven by micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Nothing obvious stands out as stretched — the usual checks on business quality and management still apply.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:01 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Gayatri Projects Limited engages in the construction business in India.

IndustryEngineering & Construction

SectorIndustrials

Employees240

Annual revenue₹847 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹847 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹241 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹11 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 240 employees supports ₹3.53 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹3.53 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., ADANI PORT & SEZ LTD, SIEMENS 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?Some evidence

ROCE of 174.1% 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 ROE14.1%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved -17% while net margin moved -263% 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-17%

Margin effect-263%

DalalBaazaar Score

64/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 5.9% a year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

63/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

83/ 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

0.2x

2Y Median

2.8x

28 monthly readings · mean 2.5x · range 0.2x–4.7x

Sector Median

30.1x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 93% below its 2y median of 2.8x. 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 99% below the peer median of 30.1x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

2.8x median over 28 months · -93%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

30.1x median of 3 peers · -99%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

13.8x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from -67.1% to 10.9% over 3 years.
Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 92% over 3 years.
Cash flow has turned positive
Free cash flow moved from negative to positive over 3 years.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 174.1% is the mark of a business that converts capital into profit efficiently.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

No automated checks triggered

None of the automated financial checks below were triggered on the years of data available. That is not the same as a clean bill of health — see what could not be checked.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 174.1% 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 -67.1% to 10.9%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 92% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
Priced below its own history
The stock trades 93% 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 99% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 3.4x EBITDA. At that level a downturn in earnings turns a manageable balance sheet into a refinancing problem, and lenders get paid before shareholders.
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.

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

1EBITDA margin holds above 9%✓ 10.9%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 3.4x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹486 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4ROCE stays above 171%✓ 174.1%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.
5Valuation vs its own median of 2.8x✓ 0.2x today
A re-rating above its own history needs a reason; without one it is just a higher price.

Investment Checklist

11 / 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

9 good · 2 neutral · 0 weak

Market Cap

₹992 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

0.2x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.66x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹106.21

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

336.5%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

174.1%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.51x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

208.7%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

1548.3%

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

₹486 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

23.9%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

179.8%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.93

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.99

Market-like

Moves roughly in line with the market

52W Range Position

63%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

22.1 / 22.1

Bullish alignment (short > long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

41.1

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1,017 Cr	₹680 Cr	₹450 Cr	₹847 Cr	-5.9%
EBITDA	-₹682 Cr	₹87 Cr	₹197 Cr	₹93 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	-67.1%	12.8%	43.7%	10.9%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹1,504 Cr	₹41 Cr	₹124 Cr	₹2,042 Cr	—
EPS	₹-80.35	₹2.21	₹6.62	₹109.09	—
Total Debt	₹3,791 Cr	₹3,675 Cr	₹3,628 Cr	₹311 Cr	-56.5%
Free Cash Flow	-₹863 Cr	-₹110 Cr	₹302 Cr	₹486 Cr	—

🔴 Revenue has shrunk at 5.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has turned positive, from -₹682 Cr to ₹93 Cr.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from -67.1% to 10.9% over 3 years (+78.0 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has turned positive, from -₹1,504 Cr to ₹2,042 Cr.

🟢 EPS has turned positive, from ₹-80.35 to ₹109.09.

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 56.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has turned positive, from -₹863 Cr to ₹486 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹2,115 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹1,508 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹23 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹490 Cr

Capex

-₹5 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

7.5%

Insider Holding

82.4%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

21 Sept 2016

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
ADANI PORT & SEZ LTD	29.9x	14.1%
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%

Recent News

6 general

We Think Shareholders Should Be Aware Of Some Factors Beyond Gayatri Projects' (NSE:GAYAPROJ) Profit

Simply Wall Street, 22 May

Gayatri Projects turns profitable in Q1FY26; EBITDA up 323% YoY

scanx.trade, 12 Aug

Gayatri Projects Stock Prediction 2026: Expert Analysis, Forecast Scenarios and Full Stock Review

Univest, 15 Jun

Gayatri Projects (GAYAPROJ.NS) Slips to ₹22.89 as Stock Holds Above ₹21.75 Support Zone - Accumulation Line

https://www.siam.in/, 27 Sept

Gayatri Projects Ltd. Shareholding Pattern – Promoters, FIIs & DIIs

Value Research, 30 Aug

Gayatri Projects - These 12 penny stocks rose up to 432% in FY26; 3 turned multibaggers. Did you own any?

The Economic Times, 26 Mar

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Profitability · Valuation

WeakGrowth · 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.

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x · see Key things to watch ↑