Milky Mist Dairy Food Limited

Consumer Defensive — Packaged Foods · NSE

₹303.50−₹7.55 (−2.43%)

DalalBaazaar Score

54 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Very High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, short-term liabilities exceed short-term assets, negative free cash flow.

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

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:01 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Milky Mist Dairy Food Limited produces and supplies dairy products. The company provides dairy products including cheese, paneer, butter, curd, ghee, yogurt, ice cream, milk cream, and UHT milk products.

IndustryPackaged Foods

SectorConsumer Defensive

Annual revenue₹3,120 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹3,120 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹4 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹15 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation.

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are NESTLE INDIA LIMITED, BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD, TATA CONSUMER PRODUCT LTD, DABUR INDIA 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?Some evidence

ROCE of 15.5% 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 ROE51.0%

What is the outlook?

1 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 25.8% and earnings to grow about 64.5% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+25.8%

Est. earnings growth+64.5%

Analysts1

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +125% while net margin moved +107% 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+125%

Margin effect+107%

DalalBaazaar Score

54/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 126.5x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
✗ P/B of 42.10x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

64/ 100

Average

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

Valuation

28/ 100

Expensive

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

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

126.5x

Sector Median

51.7x

median of 4 sector peers

⚠️Against its sector it trades 145% above the peer median of 51.7x.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Expensive

51.7x median of 4 peers · +145%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

54.7x

PEG

1.89

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from 10.4% to 27.4%.
Return on capital is rising
ROCE has improved from 12.2% to 15.5%.
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

6 items require attention · 4 high · 2 watch

🔴Debt has risen sharplyFinancial
Total debt is up 109% over 3 years, from ₹804 Cr to ₹1,677 Cr.
🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 3.62x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Free cash flow negative for 4 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 225% against revenue up 125% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 151% against revenue up 125% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🟡Short-term liquidity is tightFinancial
Current ratio of 0.72 — near-term obligations exceed near-term assets.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

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 3.7x 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 151% against revenue up 125%. 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 145% above the peer median. That premium needs a reason that persists, or it closes.
Earnings are hard to forecast
Profit has swung sharply from year to year, so any single year — good or bad — is a weak guide to the next. Cyclical earnings deserve lower multiples for that reason.
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 23% a year✓ 31.0% CAGR
Latest reported year was 43.3%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 13%✓ 14.7%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Debt / EBITDA falls below 3x✗ 3.7x
Already stretched, so this is a reduction target rather than a level to hold. Around 3x is where lenders typically start attaching conditions.
4Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹168 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
5Interest cover stays above 3x✗ 2.2x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.

Investment Checklist

6 / 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
✓ Analyst consensus isn't majority-sell

Price history

Quick Metrics

5 good · 2 neutral · 4 weak

Market Cap

₹23,365 Cr

Small Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

126.5x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

42.10x

Rich

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

EPS (TTM)

₹2.4

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

27.4%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

15.5%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

3.62x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

43.3%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

870.0%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

None

No dividend yield reported — usually means no payout, but verify if one was recently initiated

Free Cash Flow

-₹168 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

59.5x

Improving

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

Operating Margin

10.0%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

5.4%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

0.72

Tight

Tight short-term liquidity

52W Range Position

78%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

RSI (14)

42.6

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹1,387 Cr	₹1,808 Cr	₹2,333 Cr	₹3,120 Cr	+31.0%
EBITDA	₹200 Cr	₹232 Cr	₹326 Cr	₹458 Cr	+31.9%
EBITDA Margin	14.4%	12.8%	14.0%	14.7%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹27 Cr	₹19 Cr	₹46 Cr	₹127 Cr	+67.1%
EPS	₹0.35	₹0.25	₹0.6	₹1.65	+67.1%
ROE	10.4%	6.9%	14.1%	27.4%	—
ROCE	12.2%	11.1%	12.6%	15.5%	—
Total Debt	₹804 Cr	₹1,042 Cr	₹1,382 Cr	₹1,677 Cr	+27.8%
Free Cash Flow	-₹217 Cr	-₹152 Cr	-₹280 Cr	-₹168 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 31.0% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 31.9% a year over 3 years.

🟡 EBITDA Margin has held roughly flat at 14.7% over 3 years.

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 67.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 67.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 ROE has risen from 10.4% to 27.4% over 3 years (+17.1 pts).

🟢 ROCE has risen from 12.2% to 15.5% over 3 years (+3.3 pts).

🔴 Total Debt has grown at 27.8% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹2,676 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹2,213 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹11 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹302 Cr

Capex

-₹470 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

5.4%

Insider Holding

85.5%

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

1 Buy · 0 Hold · 0 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹285

-6.1% vs CMP

Target Range

₹285 – ₹285

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
NESTLE INDIA LIMITED	59.8x	79.9%
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES LTD	44.1x	51.0%
TATA CONSUMER PRODUCT LTD	59.3x	7.5%
DABUR INDIA LTD	34.7x	17.2%

Recent News

1 mixed5 general

Milky Mist Dairy Food Limited Share Price - Live NSE: MILKYMIST Stock Price & Chart

Upstox, 16 Oct

Milky Mist Dairy Food L Share Price Analysis After Decline

Univest, 13 OctPrice 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.

Compare with

Equitymaster, 17 Oct

Milky Mist Dairy Food Ltd. IPO

The Economic Times, 13 Oct

Milky Mist Dairy Food surges 5%; up 127% from IPO price in five weeks

Business Standard, 23 Sept

Milky Mist Dairy Food launches 25g protein lactose-free milk pack

scanx.trade, 15 Oct

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability

WeakFinancial Health · Valuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you. 4 high-severity red flags sit 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 ↑