Nova Agritech Limited

Basic Materials — Agricultural Inputs · NSE

₹21.63+₹0.04 (+0.19%)

DalalBaazaar Score

45 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

NEUTRAL

Risk

High

Driven by negative free cash flow, micro-cap size, which brings thin liquidity, a beta above 1.3, so it swings harder than the index.

In simple words: The business is earning a fairly low return on the money invested in it, with modest growth. Cash generation is currently the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:48 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

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

What does this company do?

Nova Agritech Limited manufactures, distributes, and markets agricultural inputs in India.

IndustryAgricultural Inputs

SectorBasic Materials

Employees78

Annual revenue₹262 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹262 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹5 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹10 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 78 employees supports ₹3.35 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹3.35 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA STEEL LIMITED, JSW STEEL LIMITED, ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED, ASIAN PAINTS 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?Little sign of one

Returns on capital of 9.3% 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 ROE22.3%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +24% while net margin moved -50% 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+24%

Margin effect-50%

DalalBaazaar Score

45/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ Beta of 1.82 — amplifies market moves in both directions
✗ Micro Cap: thinner liquidity and sharper drawdowns are normal
✗ Negative free cash flow means dependence on external funding

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

42/ 100

Weak

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.

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

15.6x

3Y Median

15.1x

35 monthly readings · mean 15.8x · range 6.0x–37.6x

Sector Median

28.7x

median of 4 sector peers

🟡Currently trading close to its 3y median of 15.1x — the market is paying about what it usually pays for this company.

🟢Against its sector it trades 46% below the peer median of 28.7x.

vs. its own history

Fair

15.1x median over 35 months · +3%

vs. sector peers

Cheap

28.7x median of 4 peers · -46%

vs. generic bands

Fair

15x–35x

EV/EBITDA

9.1x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 29% over 3 years.
Very low debt
Debt/Equity of 0.22x leaves the balance sheet with plenty of headroom.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention2

Return on equity is falling
ROE has dropped from 32.1% to 5.5% — each rupee of shareholder capital earns less than it did.
Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 44.4% to 9.3% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

6 items require attention · 4 high · 2 watch

🔴Free cash flow negative for 3 yearsFinancial
The business has not covered its capital spending from operations for several years running, which has to be funded externally.
🔴Significant margin compressionFinancial
EBITDA margin has fallen 8.1 points, from 18.4% to 10.3%.
🔴Receivables growing faster than salesFinancial
Receivables up 75% against revenue up 24% — sales are being booked faster than they are collected.
🔴Inventory building faster than salesFinancial
Inventory up 110% against revenue up 24% — stock may not be moving.
🟡Interest coverage is deterioratingFinancial
Cover has fallen from 8.5x to 5.1x.
🟡Profit is decliningFinancial
Net profit is down 37% over 3 years.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 29% 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 46% 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?

Margins are being competed away
EBITDA margin has fallen from 18.4% to 10.3%. If the trend continues, profit falls even on flat sales — and margin decline rarely reverses quickly.
Sales are being booked faster than collected
Receivables are up 75% against revenue up 24%. If customers keep taking longer to pay, reported profit will not turn into cash — and write-offs follow if some never do.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 7.5% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.
Returns on shareholder capital are falling
ROE has dropped from 32.1% to 5.5%. Each rupee of equity earns less than it did, so profit growth increasingly depends on raising more capital rather than on the existing base working harder.
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 8%✓ 10.3%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹20 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
3Revenue growth stays above 6% a year✓ 7.5% CAGR
Latest reported year was 28.4%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 1.9x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 8%✓ 9.3%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

5 / 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 · 5 neutral · 2 weak

Market Cap

₹195 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

15.6x

Fair

Fairly valued against the generic band

P/B Ratio

1.02x

Reasonable

Reasonable against the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹1.39

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

5.5%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

9.3%

Moderate

Moderate return on the capital in the business

Debt/Equity

0.22x

Low

Conservative leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

28.4%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

0.0%

Modest

Slow profit growth

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

8.2%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

4.7%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.65

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

1.82

High swing

Swings more than the market in both directions

52W Range Position

10%

Near low

Near its 52-week low

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

22.4 / 23.4

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

24.2

Oversold zone

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹211 Cr	₹252 Cr	₹294 Cr	₹262 Cr	+7.5%
EBITDA	₹39 Cr	₹43 Cr	₹45 Cr	₹27 Cr	-11.3%
EBITDA Margin	18.4%	17.2%	15.3%	10.3%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹20 Cr	₹28 Cr	₹27 Cr	₹13 Cr	-14.4%
EPS	₹2.21	₹4.2	₹3.05	₹1.43	-13.6%
ROE	32.1%	14.7%	12.5%	5.5%	—
ROCE	44.4%	20.5%	19.2%	9.3%	—
Total Debt	₹71 Cr	₹61 Cr	₹55 Cr	₹50 Cr	-10.8%
Free Cash Flow	₹2 Cr	-₹0 Cr	-₹44 Cr	-₹20 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 7.5% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA has shrunk at 11.3% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EBITDA Margin has fallen from 18.4% to 10.3% over 3 years (-8.1 pts).

🔴 PAT (Net Profit) has shrunk at 14.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 EPS has shrunk at 13.6% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 32.1% to 5.5% over 3 years (-26.6 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 44.4% to 9.3% over 3 years (-35.1 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 10.8% a year over 3 years.

🔴 Free Cash Flow has turned negative, from ₹2 Cr to -₹20 Cr.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹345 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹113 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹0 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹2 Cr

Capex

-₹22 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

1.1%

Insider Holding

63.8%

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA STEEL LIMITED	19.8x	10.8%
JSW STEEL LIMITED	12.0x	24.7%
ULTRATECH CEMENT LIMITED	37.6x	11.1%
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%

Recent News

2 mixed1 negative3 general

Nova Agritech Share Price Target 2027 to 2030: Analyst Outlook

Univest, 14 AugAnalyst view

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

Nova Agritech FY26 revenue falls 53% on license delay

scanx.trade, 30 MayResults

🔴Potentially negativeReported deterioration, which feeds the growth and margin inputs on this page directly.

Nova Agritech Share Price Forecast: 3 Year Outlook to 2030

Univest, 22 Jul

Nova Agritech sets Sept 26 for 19th AGM; remote e-voting begins Sept 23

scanx.trade, 26 Sept

Nova Agritech share price makes a positive debut, stock lists with 34% premium at ₹55 on NSE

Livemint, 31 Jan

Nova Agritech Q1 FY27 Results Preview

Univest, 10 JulResults

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

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

StrongFinancial Health · Valuation

WeakBusiness Quality · Growth · Profitability · Risk

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

1 of 5 tripwires tripped — Free cash flow remains positive · see Key things to watch ↑