Maheshwari Logistics Limited

Industrials — Integrated Freight & Logistics · NSE

₹71.70−₹0.73 (−1.01%)

DalalBaazaar Score

46 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

High

Driven by moderate debt load, negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, but sales are shrinking. Cash generation 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 Maheshwari Logistics Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Maheshwari Logistics Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in coal, petcoke, wastepaper, and lignite trading business in India. It operates through three segments: Trading, Transport & Port Service, and Manufacturing Kraft Paper.

IndustryIntegrated Freight & Logistics

SectorIndustrials

Employees648

Annual revenue₹1,110 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,110 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹2 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹6 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 648 employees supports ₹1.71 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹1.71 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD., SIEMENS LTD, ABB INDIA 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?Some evidence

ROCE of 16.3% 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 ROE15.2%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved -3% while net margin moved +29% 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-3%

Margin effect+29%

DalalBaazaar Score

46/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Revenue has contracted at 1.1% a year
✗ Profit CAGR of only 7.7%
✗ Latest-year revenue growth of -7.1% is below the longer-term trend — momentum is fading
✗ Profit fell 24.5% in the latest year

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

39/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

74/ 100

Cheap

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

Optically cheap, but the underlying business scores poorly. Cheap-and-weak is what a value trap looks like from the outside — the low price may be deserved.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

13.5x

3Y Median

12.8x

40 monthly readings · mean 12.7x · range 6.7x–18.7x

Sector Median

88.8x

median of 3 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 3y median of 12.8x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟢Against its sector it trades 85% below the peer median of 88.8x.

vs. its own history

Fair

12.8x median over 40 months · +5%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

88.8x median of 3 peers · -85%

vs. generic bands

Cheap

Below 15x

EV/EBITDA

7.7x

PEG

1.75

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well2

Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 12.7% to 16.3%.
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

4 items require attention · 1 high · 3 watch

🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 58% against revenue up -3% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Debt is increasingFinancial
Total debt is up 33% over 3 years.
🟡Free cash flow is negativeFinancial
Free cash flow was -₹20 Cr in the latest year.
🟡Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 31% against revenue up -3% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Cheaper than its peers
It trades 85% below the sector median. Either the market sees a problem the numbers do not show, or the discount closes.
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?

The debt load needs earnings to hold up
Debt is 4.5x 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 31% against revenue up -3%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
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 4%✓ 5.6%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 4.5x
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✗ -₹20 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 2.1x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5ROCE stays above 13%✓ 16.3%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

4 / 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

4 good · 3 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹208 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

13.5x

Cheap

Cheap against the generic band

P/B Ratio

0.98x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹5.33

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

7.8%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

16.3%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

1.26x

Moderate

Moderate leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

-7.1%

Shrinking

Sales are contracting

Profit Growth (YoY)

-24.5%

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

-₹20 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

4.9%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

1.4%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.20

Adequate

Adequate, but no real cushion

Beta (vs Nifty)

-0.02

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

86%

Near high

Near its 52-week high

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

71.7 / 72.1

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

44.8

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1,149 Cr	₹1,048 Cr	₹974 Cr	₹1,110 Cr	-1.1%
EBITDA	₹51 Cr	₹51 Cr	₹64 Cr	₹62 Cr	+6.5%
EBITDA Margin	4.5%	4.8%	6.6%	5.6%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹13 Cr	₹14 Cr	₹18 Cr	₹17 Cr	+7.7%
EPS	₹4.56	₹4.65	₹6.13	₹5.69	+7.7%
ROE	8.1%	7.6%	9.1%	7.8%	—
ROCE	12.7%	12.9%	16.8%	16.3%	—
Total Debt	₹207 Cr	₹248 Cr	₹269 Cr	₹276 Cr	+10.1%
Free Cash Flow	₹3 Cr	-₹39 Cr	₹26 Cr	-₹20 Cr	—

🟡 Revenue has been broadly flat over 3 years (-1.1% a year).

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 6.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 4.5% to 5.6% over 3 years (+1.1 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 7.7% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 7.7% a year over 3 years.

🟡 ROE has held roughly flat at 7.8% over 3 years.

🟢 ROCE has risen from 12.7% to 16.3% over 3 years (+3.6 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 10.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹3 Cr to -₹20 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹648 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹430 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹7 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹24 Cr

Capex

-₹44 Cr

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

22 Sept 2022

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
LARSEN & TOUBRO LTD.	30.1x	15.2%
SIEMENS LTD	88.8x	10.5%
ABB INDIA LIMITED	92.6x	19.1%

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

Maheshwari Logistics vs Nifty 50: Returns Compared

Univest, 05 Oct

Maheshwari Logistics Ltd. Financials – Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss, Cash Flow

Value Research, 03 Sept

Maheshwari Logistics (NSE:MAHESHWARI): What Does Its Reg 74(5) Certificate for Q2 FY27 Mean?

Kalkine India, 08 OctResults

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

Is Maheshwari Logistics the Best Stock in Its Sector? A Look at the Numbers

Univest, 01 Oct

RAJVI LOGITRADE LTD. Stock/Share price , NSE/BSE Forecast News and Live Quotes

Equitymaster, 12 Oct

Expect ‘fatalities’ in niche quick commerce, says FirstCry CEO Supam Maheshwari

Livemint, 28 Aug

Watch Items

Revenue growth is negative (-7.1%) on the latest reported period — check if this is one-off or a trend.
Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongValuation

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Risk

WeakFinancial Health · Growth · Profitability

Points for each in the Score ↑

Cheap, but for a reason

The low price is the whole case here, and the business underneath scores poorly. Cheap-and-weak is what a value trap looks like from the outside — it needs a specific reason the numbers are about to improve, not just the observation that they are low. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

3 of 5 tripwires tripped — Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x; Free cash flow remains positive; Interest cover stays above 3x · see Key things to watch ↑