Metropolis Healthcare Limited

Healthcare — Diagnostics & Research · NSE

₹549.90+₹26.90 (+5.14%)

DalalBaazaar Score

66 / 100

🟢 Good

Verdict

REASONABLE

Risk

Low

Driven by small-cap size, which brings sharper price swings, a very high earnings multiple, which leaves little margin for disappointment.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Valuation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:03 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Metropolis Healthcare Limited, together with its subsidiaries, provides pathology and related healthcare services in India and internationally.

IndustryDiagnostics & Research

SectorHealthcare

Employees4,484

Annual revenue₹1,646 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹1,646 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹12 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹27 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 4,484 employees supports ₹36.7 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹36.7 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are SUN PHARMACEUTICAL IND L, CIPLA LTD, DR. REDDY S LABORATORIES, APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTER. L. 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 15.7% 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 ROE14.5%

What is the outlook?

17 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 14.6% and earnings to grow about 24.9% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+14.6%

Est. earnings growth+24.9%

Analysts17

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 +43% while net margin moved -7% 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+43%

Margin effect-7%

DalalBaazaar Score

66/ 100

Good

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 56.6x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
• P/E is close to its own historical median of 68.4x
✗ P/B of 7.53x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

72/ 100

Good

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

Valuation

32/ 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

56.6x

3Y Median

68.4x

40 monthly readings · mean 68.6x · range 48.2x–88.1x

Sector Median

33.3x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 17% below its 3y median of 68.4x. 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 70% above the peer median of 33.3x.

vs. its own history

Fair

68.4x median over 40 months · -17%

vs. sector peers

Expensive

33.3x median of 4 peers · +70%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

26.1x

PEG

5.68

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well4

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 13% over 3 years.
Cash generation is improving
Free cash flow is up 54% over 3 years.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.15x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.
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?

Self-funding with balance-sheet headroom
Positive free cash flow of ₹300 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?

A premium to the sector to defend
It trades 70% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
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 10% a year✓ 12.8% CAGR
Latest reported year was 16.6%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 25%✓ 27.0%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹300 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.5x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 13%✓ 15.7%
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 · 3 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹11,408 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

56.6x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

7.53x

Rich

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

EPS (TTM)

₹9.71

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

12.6%

Moderate

Moderate capital efficiency

ROCE

15.7%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

0.15x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

16.6%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

12.7%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.36%

Modest

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

Free Cash Flow

₹300 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

35.4x

Improving

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

Operating Margin

17.5%

Good

Healthy core-business profitability

Net Margin

11.8%

Good

Strong bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

1.40

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.20

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

70%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

555.2 / 565.2

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Above

Long-term uptrend

RSI (14)

28.9

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1,148 Cr	₹1,208 Cr	₹1,331 Cr	₹1,646 Cr	+12.8%
EBITDA	₹303 Cr	₹291 Cr	₹312 Cr	₹444 Cr	+13.6%
EBITDA Margin	26.4%	24.1%	23.4%	27.0%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹143 Cr	₹128 Cr	₹145 Cr	₹190 Cr	+10.0%
EPS	₹6.95	₹6.22	₹7.04	₹9.19	+9.7%
ROE	14.5%	11.7%	10.9%	12.6%	—
ROCE	17.3%	15.1%	13.3%	15.7%	—
Total Debt	₹266 Cr	₹197 Cr	₹204 Cr	₹232 Cr	-4.5%
Free Cash Flow	₹194 Cr	₹200 Cr	₹194 Cr	₹300 Cr	+15.5%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 12.8% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 13.6% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 27.0% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 10.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 9.7% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 14.5% to 12.6% over 3 years (-1.9 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 17.3% to 15.7% over 3 years (-1.6 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 4.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 15.5% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹2,138 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹613 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹55 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹351 Cr

Capex

-₹51 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

44.3%

Insider Holding

47.8%

Corporate Actions

Next Earnings

04 Nov 2026

Dividend Rate

₹2

Ex-Dividend Date

19 May 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

15 Buy · 2 Hold · 2 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹663.68

+20.7% vs CMP

Target Range

₹550 – ₹760

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
SUN PHARMACEUTICAL IND L	34.9x	14.5%
CIPLA LTD	31.8x	9.8%
DR. REDDY S LABORATORIES	31.0x	8.8%
APOLLO HOSPITALS ENTER. L	54.3x	22.0%

Recent News

3 mixed3 general

METROPOLIS Outlook for the Week

Equitypandit, 09 Oct

METROPOLIS Forecast — Price Target — Prediction for 2027

TradingView, 26 JunAnalyst view

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

Healthcare stocks shine in weak market; Metropolis, Thyrocare jump upto 14%

Business Standard, 08 May

Morgan Stanley Hikes Metropolis Healthcare's Target Price On Healthy Volume Growth; But Prefers Dr. Lal Pathlabs

NDTV Profit, 06 AugAnalyst view

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

Earnings Tell The Story For Metropolis Healthcare Limited (NSE:METROPOLIS)

Simply Wall Street, 27 JanResults

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

JM Financial calls Metropolis Healthcare ‘best-value diagnostic stock’, sees up to 27% upside

The Economic Times, 28 Aug

Watch Items

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 · Growth · Profitability · Risk

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.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑