Panacea Biotec Limited

Healthcare — Biotechnology · NSE

₹360.00+₹3.00 (+0.84%)

DalalBaazaar Score

42 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Very High

Driven by high debt relative to equity, negative free cash flow, the company is currently loss-making.

In simple words: The company is currently losing money, though profits are falling even as sales grow. Debt is 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 Panacea Biotec Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Panacea Biotec Limited, a biotechnology company, engages in the research, development, manufacture, and marketing of vaccines, pharmaceutical formulations, nutraceuticals, and food and nutrition products in India and internationally.

IndustryBiotechnology

SectorHealthcare

Employees2,102

Annual revenue₹610 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹610 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹-1 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹2 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 2,102 employees supports ₹29.0 lakh of revenue a year, the signature of a people-led business.

Revenue / employee₹29.0 lakh

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT, INFOSYS LIMITED, HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD, WIPRO 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 -0.2% 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 ROE32.0%

What has been driving growth?

Profit has moved mainly because margins changed, not because the business sold much more. Over 3 years revenue moved +33% while net margin moved -88% 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+33%

Margin effect-88%

DalalBaazaar Score

42/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ ROCE of -0.2% is below 10% — capital is not working hard
• ROCE has been broadly stable
✗ EBITDA margin of 1.8% is thin — little cushion if costs rise
✗ The business is lossmaking at the net level
• Revenue has compounded at 10.1% a year, which is the base these returns are earned on

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

44/ 100

Weak

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

Valuation

25/ 100

Expensive

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

Weak on business quality and not cheap enough to compensate.

vs. its own history

Not enough price and earnings history

vs. sector peers

Not enough peers with a usable P/E

vs. generic bands

N/A

No P/E — the company is lossmaking

EV/EBITDA

200.0x

PEG

—

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well3

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from -10.9% to 1.8% over 3 years.
Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 26% over 3 years.
Return on equity is rising
ROE has improved from -3.9% to -0.6%.

🔴 What Needs Attention0

Nothing stands out as clearly deteriorating on the years of data available.

Red Flags

4 items require attention · 4 high

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 2.85x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.
🔴Thin interest coverageFinancial
Operating profit covers interest only -0.4x — little room if earnings dip.
🔴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.
🔴The company is lossmakingFinancial
Net profit of -₹5 Cr in the latest reported year.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from -10.9% to 1.8%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 26% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 2.85x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
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
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.
Several serious flags at once
4 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 8% a year✓ 10.1% CAGR
Latest reported year was 19.7%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
2EBITDA margin holds above 0%✓ 1.8%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
3Free cash flow remains positive✗ -₹37 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Interest cover stays above 3x✗ -0.4x
How much operating profit can fall before interest stops being comfortably covered.
5Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 1.4x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.

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

1 good · 3 neutral · 7 weak

Market Cap

₹2,200 Cr

Micro Cap

Smaller company — thin liquidity and deep drawdowns are normal here

P/E (Trailing)

Not meaningful

Loss-making

Earnings are negative, so a P/E multiple can't be read here

P/B Ratio

2.80x

Fair

Moderate premium to the company's book value

EPS (TTM)

₹-1.16

Loss-making

Negative earnings per share — the business is losing money

ROE

-0.6%

Weak

Weak capital efficiency

ROCE

-0.2%

Weak

Low return on total capital employed

Debt/Equity

2.85x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

19.7%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

-42.4%

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

-₹37 Cr

Cash burning

Spending more cash than the operations bring in

More Metrics

Operating Margin

-1.1%

Weak

Thin margins leave little room for error

Net Margin

-1.1%

Weak

Very little revenue reaches the bottom line

Current Ratio

1.47

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.25

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

19%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

362.9 / 382.9

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

43.1

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹457 Cr	₹552 Cr	₹493 Cr	₹610 Cr	+10.1%
EBITDA	-₹50 Cr	₹7 Cr	-₹8 Cr	₹11 Cr	—
EBITDA Margin	-10.9%	1.3%	-1.5%	1.8%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	-₹33 Cr	-₹1 Cr	-₹8 Cr	-₹5 Cr	—
EPS	₹-5.43	₹-0.19	₹-1.37	₹-0.88	—
ROE	-3.9%	-0.1%	-1.0%	-0.6%	—
ROCE	1.8%	0.4%	-0.5%	-0.2%	—
Total Debt	₹20 Cr	₹15 Cr	₹15 Cr	₹15 Cr	-9.5%
Free Cash Flow	-₹463 Cr	-₹79 Cr	-₹78 Cr	-₹37 Cr	—

🟢 Revenue has grown at 10.1% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has turned positive, from -₹50 Cr to ₹11 Cr.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from -10.9% to 1.8% over 3 years (+12.6 pts).

🟢 ROE has risen from -3.9% to -0.6% over 3 years (+3.3 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 1.8% to -0.2% over 3 years (-2.0 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 9.5% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹1,262 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹433 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹57 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹17 Cr

Capex

-₹54 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

0.2%

Insider Holding

75.8%

Corporate Actions

Ex-Dividend Date

19 Sept 2011

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
TATA CONSULTANCY SERV LT	17.3x	45.6%
INFOSYS LIMITED	15.8x	32.0%
HCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD	20.4x	24.6%
WIPRO LTD	14.5x	15.9%

Recent News

2 mixed4 general

Panacea Biotec zooms 60% in 6 days; stock hits new high on huge volumes

Business Standard, 09 Jun

Why Is Panacea Biotec Share Price Falling Key Reasons 2026

Univest, 24 JunPrice 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.

Panacea Biotec shares soar 15% to 52-week high on launch of EU-funded DENSTAR project; what investors need to know

Upstox, 08 JunPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

Panacea Biotec stock gains 3% after company wins ₹20.79 Cr Td vaccine contract from CMSS

Alice Blue, 13 Apr

Panacea Biotec Limited (NSE:PANACEABIO) Stock Rockets 28% As Investors Are Less Pessimistic Than Expected

Simply Wall Street, 09 Jan

Stocks to Watch Today: Aurobindo Pharma, Panacea Biotec, InterGlobe Aviation, CG Power Industrial,...

Moneycontrol.com, 05 Jun

Watch Items

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

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongGrowth

WeakBusiness Quality · Financial Health · Profitability · Valuation · Risk

Points for each in the Score ↑

Weak on the fundamentals

Poor scores on business quality without a price low enough to compensate. There is no obvious argument for owning this over a stronger company at a similar valuation. 4 high-severity red flags sit above this conclusion and should be read first.

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