Kovai Medical Center and Hospital Limited

Healthcare — Medical Care Facilities · NSE

₹5,969.00−₹16.50 (−0.28%)

DalalBaazaar Score

79 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

ATTRACTIVE

Risk

Low

Driven by small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings.

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

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 6:59 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Kovai Medical Center and Hospital Limited operates a multispecialty hospital and its satellite centers in India. It operates through two segments, Healthcare Services and Education Services.

IndustryMedical Care Facilities

SectorHealthcare

Employees6,885

Annual revenue₹1,584 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,584 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹15 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹30 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 6,885 employees supports ₹23.0 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹23.0 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTER. L, SUN PHARMACEUTICAL IND L, CIPLA 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 20.6%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 18.5% 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 +65% while net margin moved +28% 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+65%

Margin effect+28%

DalalBaazaar Score

79/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

• P/E of 25.9x already prices in growth
• P/E is close to its own historical median of 28.1x

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

87/ 100

Excellent

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

Valuation

70/ 100

Cheap

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

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework is built to look for.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

25.9x

0.7Y Median

28.1x

8 monthly readings · mean 28.4x · range 26.7x–31.4x

Sector Median

34.9x

median of 3 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 0.7y median of 28.1x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟢Against its sector it trades 26% below the peer median of 34.9x.

vs. its own history

Fair

28.1x median over 8 months · -8%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

34.9x median of 3 peers · -26%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

14.6x

PEG

0.91

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 21% over 3 years.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 15.5% to 20.6%.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 20.6% 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

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 20.6% 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.
Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 21% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
Cheaper than its peers
It trades 26% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹110 Cr alongside low debt means growth, buybacks or dividends need no outside money — and a downturn can be absorbed rather than refinanced.
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?

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.

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

1Revenue growth stays above 14% a year✓ 18.2% CAGR
Latest reported year was 15.3%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 28%✓ 29.6%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹110 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.9x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 18%✓ 20.6%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

10 / 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

7 good · 4 neutral · 0 weak

Market Cap

₹6,531 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

25.9x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

4.95x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹230.9

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

18.5%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

20.6%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.31x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

15.3%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

20.7%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.25%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

₹110 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

Operating Margin

21.4%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

15.6%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.29

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.40

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

88%

Near high

Near its 52-week high

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

6015.1 / 6029.2

Bearish alignment (short < long)

RSI (14)

32.5

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹958 Cr	₹1,134 Cr	₹1,370 Cr	₹1,584 Cr	+18.2%
EBITDA	₹286 Cr	₹363 Cr	₹409 Cr	₹469 Cr	+17.9%
EBITDA Margin	29.9%	32.0%	29.8%	29.6%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹116 Cr	₹180 Cr	₹209 Cr	₹244 Cr	+28.3%
EPS	—	₹164.25	₹190.95	₹223.41	—
ROE	16.1%	20.2%	19.2%	18.5%	—
ROCE	15.5%	21.9%	20.3%	20.6%	—
Total Debt	₹511 Cr	₹310 Cr	₹415 Cr	₹403 Cr	-7.6%
Free Cash Flow	₹136 Cr	₹206 Cr	-₹18 Cr	₹110 Cr	-6.8%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 18.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 17.9% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 29.6% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 28.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 16.1% to 18.5% over 3 years (+2.4 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 15.5% to 20.6% over 3 years (+5.0 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 7.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has shrunk at 6.8% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹2,066 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹747 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹64 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹362 Cr

Capex

-₹252 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

3.1%

Insider Holding

58.0%

Corporate Actions

Dividend Rate

₹15

Ex-Dividend Date

19 Aug 2026

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTER. L	54.3x	22.0%
SUN PHARMACEUTICAL IND L	34.9x	14.5%
CIPLA LTD	31.8x	9.8%

Recent News

2 positive2 mixed2 general

Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (NSE:KOVAI) Ticks All The Boxes When It Comes To Earnings Growth

Simply Wall Street, 28 AprResults

🟡Mixed / dependsA results event. The figures on this page update once the new statements reach the data feed, which usually lags the announcement.

Kovai Medical Center & Hospital Slips Below ₹6,000 Mark as KOVAI.NS Faces Profit-Booking Pressure - Equal Weight ETF

siam.in, 15 Sept

Kovai Medical Q4 profit rises 9% to ₹59.7 crore as revenue jumps 14%

Sahi, 22 MayResults

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

Kovai Medical Center & Hospital standalone net profit rises 20.72% in the June 2026 quarter

Business Standard, 08 AugResults

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

Kovai Medical Center & Hospital Ltd. Peer Comparison – Compare with Others

Value Research, 01 Sept

Kovai Medical Center and Hospital Share Price Target 2026: Expert Forecast, Growth Catalysts and Key Risks

Univest, 07 MayAnalyst view

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

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Growth · Profitability

MiddlingValuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Attractive on both counts

A good business currently available at an undemanding price — the combination this framework exists to look for. The work left is qualitative: whether the advantage the numbers imply is one you can identify and expect to last.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑