Max Healthcare Institute Limited

Healthcare — Medical Care Facilities · NSE

₹846.00−₹12.00 (−1.40%)

DalalBaazaar Score

63 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

Moderate

Driven by short-term liabilities exceed short-term assets, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment.

In simple words: Reasonable but unspectacular business quality, with modest growth. Short-term liquidity is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:02 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Max Healthcare Institute Limited provides medical and healthcare services in India.

IndustryMedical Care Facilities

SectorHealthcare

Annual revenue₹8,225 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹8,225 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹18 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹29 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation.

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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 12.6% 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 ROE14.5%

What is the outlook?

26 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 18.9% and earnings to grow about 24.8% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+18.9%

Est. earnings growth+24.8%

Analysts26

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 +83% 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+83%

Margin effect-29%

DalalBaazaar Score

63/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 56.7x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
✓ P/E is 37% below its own historical median of 90.2x — cheap by its own standards
✗ P/B of 7.66x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

65/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

39/ 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

56.7x

3Y Median

90.2x

40 monthly readings · mean 84.6x · range 49.9x–117.7x

Sector Median

34.9x

median of 3 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 37% below its 3y median of 90.2x. 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 63% above the peer median of 34.9x.

vs. its own history

Cheap

90.2x median over 40 months · -37%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

34.9x median of 3 peers · +63%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

35.1x

PEG

6.08

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well1

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

3 items require attention · 2 high · 1 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 283% over 3 years, from ₹908 Cr to ₹3,478 Cr.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 189% against revenue up 83% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Short-term liquidity is tightFinancial
Current ratio of 0.89 — near-term obligations exceed near-term assets.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Priced below its own history
The stock trades 37% 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.
Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹149 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?

Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 189% against revenue up 83%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 63% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
Several serious flags at once
2 high-severity checks triggered. Individually each has an explanation; together they raise the chance that something structural is wrong rather than a one-off.

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

1Revenue growth stays above 17% a year✓ 22.4% CAGR
Latest reported year was 16.7%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 27%✓ 29.5%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹149 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 1.4x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 10%✓ 12.6%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

7 / 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

4 good · 5 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹82,342 Cr

Mid Cap

Mid-sized — more growth headroom, but sharper swings than large caps

P/E (Trailing)

56.7x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

7.66x

Rich

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

EPS (TTM)

₹14.91

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

13.4%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

12.6%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.32x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

16.7%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

4.8%

Modest

Slow profit growth

Dividend Yield

0.24%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

₹149 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

36.3x

Improving

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

Operating Margin

19.7%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

16.7%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

0.89

Adequate

Adequate, but no real cushion

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.10

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

945.7 / 989.0

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

14.0

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹4,489 Cr	₹5,309 Cr	₹6,910 Cr	₹8,225 Cr	+22.4%
EBITDA	₹1,384 Cr	₹1,680 Cr	₹2,049 Cr	₹2,426 Cr	+20.6%
EBITDA Margin	30.8%	31.6%	29.7%	29.5%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹1,104 Cr	₹1,058 Cr	₹1,076 Cr	₹1,442 Cr	+9.3%
EPS	₹11.36	₹10.84	₹11.01	₹14.76	+9.1%
ROE	14.9%	12.6%	11.5%	13.4%	—
ROCE	12.5%	13.1%	11.6%	12.6%	—
Total Debt	₹908 Cr	₹1,295 Cr	₹3,010 Cr	₹3,478 Cr	+56.5%
Free Cash Flow	₹949 Cr	₹336 Cr	₹493 Cr	₹149 Cr	-46.1%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 22.4% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 20.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 30.8% to 29.5% over 3 years (-1.3 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 9.3% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 9.1% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 14.9% to 13.4% over 3 years (-1.5 pts).

🟡 ROCE has held roughly flat at 12.6% over 3 years.

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 56.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has shrunk at 46.1% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹17,231 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹6,484 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹666 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹1,633 Cr

Capex

-₹1,485 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

59.9%

Insider Holding

28.2%

Corporate Actions

Next Earnings

20 Nov 2026

Dividend Rate

₹2

Ex-Dividend Date

03 Jul 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

20 Buy · 3 Hold · 4 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹1,153.69

+36.4% vs CMP

Target Range

₹825 – ₹1,320

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

1 positive2 mixed3 general

Max Healthcare slips 20% in 3 weeks, stock hits over 2-year low; here's why

Business Standard, 13 Oct

Max Healthcare Institute Share Price News: 2.22% Decline

Univest, 25 Sept

Should You Be Adding Max Healthcare Institute (NSE:MAXHEALTH) To Your Watchlist Today?

Simply Wall Street, 12 Oct

Max Healthcare Institute Q4 FY26 Results: PAT Increases to ₹342 Crore ; Declares Dividend of ₹2

Groww, 21 MayCapital return

🟢Potentially positiveCash or shares returned to holders. A buyback is only good value if the shares were cheap when bought.

Max Healthcare Institute shares fall 2.14% in afternoon trade

Moneycontrol.com, 04 AugPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move rather than a change in the business. If the figures on this page have not moved, the fall is either an opportunity or news they have yet to catch up with.

Stock Radar: After a 24% correction, Max Healthcare breaks key resistance level; analysts see long-term po

The Economic Times, 01 JunAnalyst 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.
RSI is in oversold territory — could mean either a bargain or a stock still falling for good reason. Check the 'why' before assuming reversal.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Profitability · Risk

MiddlingGrowth

WeakValuation

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. 2 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑