Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd

Price story Before the numbers, the tape. A stock price moves through four repeating seasons: a flat base (stage 1), an advance (2), a top (3), a decline (4). Where the price sits in that cycle frames everything below.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd trades at ₹28.1, in a downtrend and 45 weeks into that stage. That is −15.8% against its own 200-day average. It sits at 22% of a 52-week range of ₹23 to ₹46. On relative strength it is currently behind the NIFTY 500 on a trailing-13-week view (6 weeks and counting).

Today the stock is in a downtrend — week 45 of stage 4, confirmed. At ₹28.1 it trades −15.8% versus its 200-day average and sits at 22% of its 52-week range (₹23–₹46).

Against the market, two honest reads. Cumulative: over the last 10.3 years the stock moved +60% while the NIFTY 500 moved +274% — behind the index over the full window. Recent form: on a trailing-13-week view the stock is currently behind (6 weeks and counting; last ahead the week of 2026-06-19) — the ribbon below is that same metric, week by week.

What would end the trend, mechanically: two Friday closes in a row below the 200-day line. That is the exit rule — no debates.

→ The trend is one thing; the bill is another. Are you paying up for it? Next: how the P/E reads against its own history.

Valuation P/E is the price of ₹1 of annual profit: how many rupees the market pays for each rupee the company earns in a year.

P/E does not price Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd — earnings are negative, so there is no multiple to rank against its own history. The revenue and margin lines below are where a turn, when it comes, would show first. On sales the market values Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd at 1.8× its FY26 revenue of ₹956 Cr.

With earnings negative, P/E does not price — there is no multiple to rank against its own history. The revenue and margin lines below are where the turn, when it comes, will show first.

Put together: the multiple is unremarkable against its own past, so the story rests on the earnings line underneath it, not the multiple.

→ Cheap or dear rides on the earnings. Are they actually growing? Next: the fundamental stage — where the business sits in its arc, and how growth has compounded.

Stage: No read Every business sits somewhere on a fundamental arc, and this page names the spot before anything else. The last twelve quarters of revenue, profit and EPS growth — plus the return the business earns on its capital — are read as curves: Deteriorating (the curves are falling), Turning around (a trough has just formed and the last few quarters lift off it), Improving (the climb off the trough is sustained), Consistent (steadily positive with healthy returns), Topping out (still high but decelerating from the peak). When the curves genuinely disagree the read is Mixed; too little history is No read. CAGR (compound annual growth rate) is the smooth yearly pace that turns the starting value into the latest one — the fairest way to compare growth across different time spans. Read the columns together: if the 1-year number towers over the 10-year, recent growth is running hotter than the long-run trend. A dash means that window is not held, or the base year was a loss (where a growth rate is not meaningful).

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd reads as no read on its fundamental arc. Under eight usable quarters on the growth trio — not enough history for an honest trajectory read. The read is built from 10 quarters across 1 curve, on partial evidence.

Why it matters: with too little history, an honest page says so instead of guessing a trajectory.

The return-on-capital curve is not shown — net worth is negative, so a return on capital is not a meaningful number in any basis. This is a distressed balance sheet, and the stage is read from the growth curves alone.

One or more growth curves carry a base-effect spike — a large year-on-year move off a near-zero or loss-making comparable quarter. Those spikes are capped before the classifier reads the trajectory, and shown pinned on the chart, so a single distorted quarter does not drive the stage call.

Fewer than eight usable quarters on the growth curves — this page will not guess a trajectory from a stub of history.

→ The stage names the trajectory. Next: the revenue line that produces it, quarter by quarter.

4-Factor Sector Score

32.8/100 — rank 18 of 18 in Telecom Services · 59% evidence confidence

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd scores 32.8 out of 100 against the 18 companies it is compared with in Telecom Services, ranking 18. Fill the missing evidence before acting; the ranking is deliberately pulled toward neutral.

The four contributions add to the total exactly: 13.8 + 5.5 + 10 + 3.5 = 32.8. This is the SAME number shown on the sector comparison — it is computed once, for the whole peer set, and read here.

What would change it: The read weakens if profit growth turns negative or margin improvement reverses while sector-relative strength deteriorates.

Revenue Revenue is the top line: everything the company billed its customers in the period.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd reported ₹371 Cr of revenue in the Mar 26 quarter, +34.9% year on year. Over 10 years it has compounded at −11.4% a year. The last full year, FY26, came in at ₹956 Cr. The last four reported quarters add to ₹931 Cr.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd reported ₹371 Cr of revenue in the Mar 26 quarter, +34.9% year on year. Over 10 years it has compounded at −11.4% a year. The last full year, FY26, came in at ₹956 Cr. The last four reported quarters add to ₹931 Cr.

FY26 revenue came in at ₹956 Cr (+37.0% on the year), capping 10 years at −11.4% compound. The latest quarter (Mar 26) printed ₹371 Cr, +34.9% year on year.

Pace check: the last four quarters averaged −6.7% growth against the decade's −11.4% — the current year is running faster than its own long-run rate.

Acceleration check: trailing-twelve-month revenue grew −5.7% over the last 4 quarters against +8.0%/yr over the last 8 — rolling over.

→ Revenue grew — did margins hold as it scaled? Next: 16.0% this quarter (+22.0 pp YoY).

Operating margin Operating margin is what is left of every ₹100 of sales after running the business, before interest and tax. It is the cleanest read on pricing power and cost control.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd's operating margin is 16.0% in the Mar 26 quarter, +22.0 percentage points against the same quarter a year ago. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged −89.0% to 5.0%. The current quarter is running above every full year in that window.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd's operating margin is 16.0% in the Mar 26 quarter, +22.0 percentage points against the same quarter a year ago. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged −89.0% to 5.0%. The current quarter is running above every full year in that window.

The latest quarter's operating margin is 16.0%, +22.0 pp against the same quarter a year ago. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged −89.0%–5.0%.

Why the margin moved: operating margin went +22.1 pp year on year while gross margin went +0.1 pp — the gain came mostly below the gross line: operating leverage, with costs spread over a bigger revenue base.

→ Margins held — did that reach the bottom line? Next: profit null in the latest quarter.

Net profit Net profit is what survives every cost, interest and tax — the number EPS, dividends and book value all grow from.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd posted a net loss of ₹307 Cr in the Mar 26 quarter. The full FY26 year was a loss of ₹3,107 Cr. That loss is 82.7% of the quarter's revenue. The same quarter a year earlier lost ₹828 Cr. 12 of the last 12 reported quarters were loss-making.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd posted a net loss of ₹307 Cr in the Mar 26 quarter. The full FY26 year was a loss of ₹3,107 Cr. That loss is 82.7% of the quarter's revenue. The same quarter a year earlier lost ₹828 Cr. 12 of the last 12 reported quarters were loss-making.

Mar 26 profit was ₹−307 Cr, null year on year. On the full year, FY26 printed ₹−3,107 Cr (null).

→ Profit rose — but did the cash follow?

Cash flow — the router The P&L says what was earned; the cash-flow statement says what actually arrived. Operating cash flow (CFO) against profit is the cleanest lie detector in the accounts.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd's cash-flow history is too thin to judge how much reported profit converts into cash. In FY26 that was ₹176 Cr of operating cash against ₹−3,107 Cr of profit. After ₹−121 Cr of capital spending, ₹297 Cr was left as free cash. Cash resolution here is annual, because quarterly cash statements are not published.

FY26: operating cash of ₹176 Cr against reported profit of ₹−3,107 Cr, leaving free cash of ₹297 Cr after ₹−121 Cr of capital spending.

Cash-flow readings here are annual — that is the resolution our series carries, so this section moves once a year.

Router verdict: no single sink dominates — the next section checks both the working-capital cycle and the capital spending.

→ So follow the cash to where it goes. Next: a 126-day cycle and ₹−29.0 Cr of building.

Where the cash goes Working capital is the cash tied up between paying suppliers and getting paid: debtor days (customers owe), inventory days (stock waits), and the cash conversion cycle (the whole loop, in days of sales).

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd's cash conversion cycle runs 126 days in FY26, down from 203 days in FY21. Capital spending ran ₹−29.0 Cr over the last 3 years. At FY26 sales of ₹956 Cr each day of that cycle holds about ₹2.6 Cr, so roughly ₹330 Cr sits inside the business at any moment.

FY26: debtors at 126 days (an asset-light business — no inventory to speak of) — for a full cycle of 126 days, tighter than FY21's 203.

In money terms: at FY26 sales of ₹956 Cr, each day of the cycle holds about ₹2.6 Cr — so the 126-day loop keeps roughly ₹330 Cr sitting inside the business at any moment.

On the investment side: capital spending of ₹−29.0 Cr over the last 3 fiscal years against ₹1,846 Cr of depreciation — spending at or below maintenance level. Capital work-in-progress stands at ₹13.0 Cr (FY26) — capacity paid for but not yet earning.

The synthesis: neither the cycle nor the build-out is hoarding the cash — the machine is reasonably clean.

→ Does all this activity actually earn its cost of capital? Next: ROCE is −2% and the ROIC − WACC spread is −13.4 pp.

Return on capital Return on capital employed (ROCE) is the profit the whole business earns on all the money in it — equity and debt together. It is the single best test of whether growth creates value or just size.⚠ unverified

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd earns a ROCE of −2% in FY26. That is up from a trough of −18% in FY20. Return on invested capital clears the cost of that capital by −13.4 percentage points, so growth here is not yet paying for the capital it uses. The wiring behind it is −325.0% net margin on 0.09× asset turns.

FY26 ROCE is −2%, recovered from a FY20 trough of −18% — the full ladder below shows the fall and the climb, undoctored.

🚨 Why the return is what it is — the wiring (FY26): −325.0% net margin × 0.09× asset turns × −0.34× balance-sheet leverage ≈ 9.9% on equity. Margin does its share; leverage is modest — this is an earned return, not a borrowed one.

The capstone test — ROIC − WACC: −1.4% − 12.0% = a −13.4 pp spread. The 12.0% is a standing assumption for the cost of capital in India, not a per-stock estimate — read the sign and the size of the spread, not the decimals. Negative — growth at these returns destroys value until the returns recover.

→ Returns like these — is the balance sheet borrowing to make them? Next: debt-to-equity is −1.18.

Debt Debt-to-equity says how much of the business is funded by borrowings. Low is the safe corner; the trend matters as much as the level.⚠ unverified

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd's net worth is negative — it owes more than it owns — so a debt-to-equity ratio is not meaningful here. On the annual view that ratio went from −1.44 in FY22 to −1.18 in FY26. The returns elsewhere on this page are therefore earned rather than borrowed.

Mar 26: total debt of ₹35,445 Cr against shareholder equity of ₹−29,960 Cr — a debt-to-equity of −1.18. On the annual view, debt-to-equity went from −1.44 (FY22) to −1.18 (FY26). The returns on this page are earned, not borrowed.

→ Who owns this, and are they adding or leaving? Next: the register is quiet.

Ownership Who owns the stock, quarter by quarter: promoters (the controlling owners), foreign and domestic institutions, and the public. Steady accumulation by people close to the numbers is a signal; a quiet register is also an answer.

No holder of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd moved a full percentage point over the last two years — the register is quiet. Promoters moved +0.0 points over the same window, to 56.3%. The register is read on the four disclosed classes only; nothing is inferred between filings.

The register over the last two years — Domestic institutions: −0.2 points over 8 quarters to 13.4%; Promoters: +0.0 points over 8 quarters to 56.3%; Foreign institutions: +0.0 points over 8 quarters to 0.4%.

→ One last check: does the safety math agree? Next: the balance-sheet safety line.

Safety line The Z-score estimates how far a company sits from balance-sheet distress — above roughly 3 is safe, below roughly 1.8 is the danger zone. It was built for manufacturers, so it is not applied to banks and lenders.

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd: the Z-score is not available for this stock, so we say so rather than invent one. It is a distance-to-distress estimate from the balance sheet, not a forecast of failure. The debt, cash-flow and return sections above carry the balance-sheet evidence this page does hold, and each of them states its own reporting date.

The safety line in one sentence: the Z-score is not available for this stock, so we say so rather than invent one.

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