Hindustan Unilever Limited

Consumer Defensive — Household & Personal Products · NSE

₹1,893.80−₹3.30 (−0.17%)

DalalBaazaar Score

68 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

Moderate

Driven by high debt relative to equity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with modest growth. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:00 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Hindustan Unilever Limited, a fast-moving consumer goods company, manufactures and sells food, home care, and personal care products in India and internationally. It operates through Home Care, Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Foods, and Others segments.

IndustryHousehold & Personal Products

SectorConsumer Defensive

Employees17,477

Annual revenue₹63,763 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹63,763 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹24 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹25 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 17,477 employees supports ₹3.65 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹3.65 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are DABUR INDIA LTD, ITC LTD, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES 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 22.2%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 30.9% against a peer median of 27.4% is consistent with that. What that something is — brand, scale, switching costs, regulation — the accounts cannot tell you.

Peer median ROE27.4%

What is the outlook?

21 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 8.4% and earnings to grow about 10.7% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+8.4%

Est. earnings growth+10.7%

Analysts21

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +7% while net margin moved +39% 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+7%

Margin effect+39%

DalalBaazaar Score

68/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue CAGR of only 2.3% — barely ahead of inflation
• Profit CAGR of 14.1%

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

71/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

41/ 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

42.5x

3Y Median

54.1x

40 monthly readings · mean 52.4x · range 29.4x–67.6x

Sector Median

34.7x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 21% below its 3y median of 54.1x. 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 22% above the peer median of 34.7x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

54.1x median over 40 months · -21%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

34.7x median of 3 peers · +22%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

28.3x

PEG

3.01

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from 20.1% to 30.9%.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 22.2% 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

1 item require attention · 1 high

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 3.02x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 22.2% 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 21% 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?

Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 3.02x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 22% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 2.3% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.

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

1EBITDA margin holds above 23%✓ 24.6%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✗ 2.3% CAGR
Latest reported year was 5.0%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹9,638 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.1x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 19%✓ 22.2%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

9 / 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

6 good · 2 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹4.45 L Cr

Large Cap

Large, widely-covered business — typically the steadiest of the bands

P/E (Trailing)

42.5x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

9.13x

Rich

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

EPS (TTM)

₹44.6

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

30.9%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

22.2%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

3.02x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

5.0%

Modest

Modest growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

8.4%

Modest

Slow profit growth

Dividend Yield

2.32%

Healthy

Meaningful cash return while you hold the stock

Free Cash Flow

₹9,638 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

35.7x

Improving

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

Operating Margin

20.7%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

22.6%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.22

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.33

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

1889.8 / 1961.5

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

43.5

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹59,549 Cr	₹60,966 Cr	₹60,573 Cr	₹63,763 Cr	+2.3%
EBITDA	₹14,575 Cr	₹15,221 Cr	₹15,569 Cr	₹15,698 Cr	+2.5%
EBITDA Margin	24.5%	25.0%	25.7%	24.6%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹10,120 Cr	₹10,277 Cr	₹10,649 Cr	₹15,040 Cr	+14.1%
EPS	₹43.07	₹43.74	₹45.32	₹64	+14.1%
ROE	20.1%	20.1%	21.6%	30.9%	—
ROCE	22.0%	21.7%	23.4%	22.2%	—
Total Debt	₹1,219 Cr	₹1,484 Cr	₹1,648 Cr	₹1,478 Cr	+6.6%
Free Cash Flow	₹8,799 Cr	₹13,992 Cr	₹10,611 Cr	₹9,638 Cr	+3.1%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 2.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 2.5% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 24.6% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 14.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 14.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 20.1% to 30.9% over 3 years (+10.7 pts).

🟡 ROCE has held roughly flat at 22.2% over 3 years.

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 6.6% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 3.1% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹79,752 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹30,745 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹2,583 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹10,999 Cr

Capex

-₹1,361 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

20.8%

Insider Holding

62.3%

Corporate Actions

Next Earnings

28 Oct 2026

Dividend Rate

₹44

Ex-Dividend Date

23 Jun 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

27 Buy · 9 Hold · 3 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹2,392.66

+26.3% vs CMP

Target Range

₹1,804 – ₹2,820

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
DABUR INDIA LTD	34.7x	17.2%
ITC LTD	16.6x	27.4%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%

Recent News

2 positive1 mixed3 general

HUL Shines in Q4FY26: Highest Growth in 12 Quarters; Revenue Up 8%, PAT Jumps 20%, Margins Under Pressure

Goodreturns, 13 OctResults

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

Hindustan Unilever 52 Week Low Streak and Valuation View

Univest, 13 Oct

Macquarie keeps INR 2,750.00 target for Hindustan Unilever stock

ad-hoc-news.de, 14 Oct

HUL stock: When a great business becomes overpriced

Value Research, 27 Jul

HUL share price target: From ₹1973 to ₹2820 in 12 months - Buy rating from Nuvama for Hindustan Unilever stock

Livemint, 06 SeptAnalyst view

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

HUL shares hit 52-week low but brokerage expects 24% upside; here's why

Business Today, 01 SeptAnalyst view

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

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.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Profitability · Risk

MiddlingFinancial Health · Growth · Valuation

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. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Revenue growth stays above 4% a year · see Key things to watch ↑