ASK Automotive 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.

ASK Automotive Ltd trades at ₹625, in a confirmed uptrend and 8 weeks into that stage. That is +24.3% against its own 200-day average. It sits at 92% of a 52-week range of ₹392 to ₹645. On relative strength it has been ahead of the NIFTY 500 on a trailing-13-week view for 9 straight weeks.

Today the stock is in a confirmed uptrend — week 8 of stage 2, confirmed. At ₹625 it trades +24.3% versus its 200-day average and sits at 92% of its 52-week range (₹392–₹645).

Against the market, two honest reads. Cumulative: over the last 2.8 years the stock moved +101% while the NIFTY 500 moved +30% — ahead of the index over the full window. Recent form: on a trailing-13-week view the stock has been ahead for 9 straight weeks — 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.

Story check

ASK Automotive Ltd's story is not scored yet against the markers our research file set on 22 August 2026. Where it sits in its own cycle: Not stated in the research file. Our fortnightly research layers last read it on 22 August 2026.

Our read, 22 August 2026. India's dominant 2-wheeler safety-component maker, delivering 20% revenue CAGR over four years via operating leverage and mix shift, now upgrading guidance to high-teens FY27 growth on a fresh plant cycle.

From the numbers. The PE cycle shows a breakout from compression — PE was as low as 30x in early 2026 and has expanded to 38.7x trailing, still at the 53rd percentile of 10-year history. The operating cycle is in mid-expansion: TTM PAT…

From the price. Price stage 2, week 8 — above its 200-day line, relative strength rising.

From the research. India's dominant 2-wheeler safety-component maker, delivering 20% revenue CAGR over four years via operating leverage and mix shift, now upgrading guidance to high-teens FY27 growth on a fresh plant cycle.

🚨 Where they disagree. The PE cycle shows a breakout from compression — PE was as low as 30x in early 2026 and has expanded to 38.7x trailing, still at the 53rd percentile of 10-year history. The operating cycle is in mid-expansion: TTM PAT is growing at 23% YoY with ROCE at 25% and the earnings curve expanding at 26% per year. OPM is at the 50th percentile of its own history — neither trough nor peak — which is consistent with the mid-expansion classification. The normalized PE of 42x at the 73rd percentile is the more accurate valuation anchor because current OPM (11.65%) reflects aluminum pass-through suppressing reported margins temporarily.

What is proven. India's dominant 2-wheeler safety-component maker, delivering 20% revenue CAGR over four years via operating leverage and mix shift, now upgrading guidance to high-teens FY27 growth on a fresh plant cycle.

What is not proven yet. If Karoli utilization is still below 65% in the December 2026 concall and revenue growth falls below 12% for two consecutive quarters, the new plant is not converting orders to revenue at the guided pace and the core operating-leverage argument breaks.

🚨 What would change our mind. If Karoli utilization is still below 65% in the December 2026 concall and revenue growth falls below 12% for two consecutive quarters, the new plant is not converting orders to revenue at the guided pace and the core operating-leverage argument breaks.

Layer 1 read, 22 August 2026 — KEEP. Revenue up in 11 of 12 quarters and guidance RAISED; the scary promoter sale was compliance, bought by institutions. ASK Automotive posted a record 1,358 crore quarter with braking systems up 48% and aluminium castings up 75%, and management RAISED the full-year growth outlook to high-teens rather than trimming it - the rare case of a company beating and then guiding higher. Three years of operating cash flow are 1.34 times reported profit, so the earnings are cash. I checked the shareholding myself: the 400-basis-point promoter cut stopped exactly at the 75% legal ceiling and domestic institutions went from 4.82% to 10.97% absorbing it and then adding more - the opposite of an exit. It is not cheap, though: the multiple has gone nowhere in eight quarters while earnings did all the work, and capex is now…

What would change Layer 1’s mind. If the December 2026 call shows Karoli utilisation still below 65% - management's own kill-switch on the operating-leverage driver - while FY27 capex lands at 700 crore, then the company will have spent 75% more than it promised on capacity that is not filling, and gearing goes through the 0.7x milestone with nothing to show. That combination flips this from P1 to a drop, and it is testable on one call.

Layer 2 read, 22 August 2026 — ADVANCE. ASK's contracts and raised guidance outweigh a conflicted sector cycle. Management raised the full-year outlook from mid-teens to high-teens, while the sector evidence says ASK recovers aluminium costs back-to-back and hedges. The sector timeline is DIVERGENT because wage inflation and customer overcapacity can still squeeze suppliers, but two cross-sector chains identify ASK and its component group as near-term beneficiaries.

What would change Layer 2’s mind. A fifth sector quarter of flat or falling profit with margin below 12%, combined with Karoli utilisation below 65% at the December 2026 call while OEM capacity keeps rising faster than demand, would flip ADVANCE to DROP.

Layer 3 read, 22 August 2026 — DEPLOY. Deploy small: the business is delivering, but capex control still needs proof. ASK raised its growth outlook and Karoli reached ₹110 Cr monthly revenue. L3 found only LOW external risks, but the ₹700 Cr capex reset, -₹199 Cr FY26 free cash flow and missed export/project guidance keep management on WATCHLIST.

What would change Layer 3’s mind. A reported debt-to-equity ratio above 0.7x by March 2027, or Karoli utilisation still below 65% while capex reaches ₹700 Cr, would flip DEPLOY to DROP.

CIO read, 22 August 2026 — DEPLOY. DEPLOY (bought) · forward-asymmetry 59/100 · CONTESTED. The latest quarter reached Rs 1,358 crore of revenue and management raised FY27 growth guidance to the high teens; aluminium costs are contractually recovered and hedged. The rating is at the 17th percentile on the card, but the shares rose 44.9% in four months and judged growth of 18% trails the model requirement by 3.5 points, so this needs a direct fight.

The test written in advance. If Karoli utilization is still below 65% in the December 2026 concall and revenue growth falls below 12% for two consecutive quarters, the new plant is not converting orders to revenue at the guided pace and the core operating-leverage argument breaks. — the thesis as written as stated by the next result.

What the company does. ASK Automotive supplies braking systems, aluminum precision die castings, and safety cables to every major Indian 2-wheeler OEM, with multi-year homologation giving its market positions durability above replacement risk. Revenue compounded at 20% annually from FY22 to FY26 (from ₹2,013 Cr to ₹4,176 Cr) while OPM expanded from 8% to 13%. The August 2026 concall delivered the highest-ever quarterly revenue, EBITDA, and PAT, with the full-year FY27 growth framework raised to high-teens and a new south-Bangalore plant announced on fresh order inflows.

🚨 What the surface reading misses. The surface reading is: Promoters sold 10pp over two years — potentially signals loss of conviction or a distressed exit from a high-promoter-holding company The research reads it further: Tranche 1 (Jun 2024 85%→Sep 2024 78.95%): FII holdings jumped from 4.91% to 9.16% in the same quarter — a 4.25pp gain that absorbed the 6.05pp promoter reduction. Tranche 2 (Sep 2025 78.95%→Dec 2025 74.95%): DII holdings jumped from 4.82% to 9.13% in the same quarter — a 4.31pp gain absorbing the 4pp promoter reduction. By Jun 2026, DII holdings reached 10.97%. Combined FII+DII rose from ~9% to ~20.5% over two years. This is the signature of a block sale (OFS-style) to institutional investors at prevailing prices, not a distressed unwind.

🚨 What the surface reading misses. The surface reading is: OCF/PAT fell from 1.34 (3-year trend) to 1.01 in FY26 — suggests cash conversion is deteriorating The research reads it further: Cash profit was ₹411 Cr (PAT ₹297 Cr + depreciation ₹114 Cr). OCF was ₹301 Cr. The ₹110 Cr gap is working-capital absorption — primarily inventory days rising from 34 to 41 (8 additional days on ₹4,176 Cr revenue = ~₹92 Cr inventory build). Debtor days held at 26 days (no receivable inflation). CCC improved from 22 to 18 days overall. CWIP rose from ₹65 Cr to ₹152 Cr — physical plant construction underway. The cash story is growth_wc_plus_capex: operating cash is being reinvested in plant and inventory for the ramp, not leaking.

Sources: our stock research file (22 August 2026) · quarterly results through Jun 26 · the company’s own earnings calls. The story check is re-scored every results season; the record below never changes.

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

ASK Automotive Ltd reported ₹1,358 Cr of revenue in the Jun 26 quarter, +52.4% year on year. That is the 12th straight quarter of year-on-year growth. Over 7 years it has compounded at 12.9% a year. The last full year, FY26, came in at ₹4,176 Cr. The last four reported quarters add to ₹4,643 Cr.

Why this happened. ABS revenue grew 48% YoY in Q1 FY27 (C011). Honda is the largest customer by content-per-vehicle, and ASK expects this position to persist across Honda's next model cycle. A regulatory ABS mandate remains under government consideration — management will not discuss draft proposals — but any mandate requiring ABS fitment across the full 2-wheeler fleet would structurally expand ASK's addressable market without requiring additional customer development work. The regulatory-mandate demand-floor model applies conditionally on notification.

FY26 revenue came in at ₹4,176 Cr (+16.0% on the year), capping 7 years at 12.9% compound. The latest quarter (Jun 26) printed ₹1,358 Cr, +52.4% year on year — the 12th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

Pace check: the last four quarters averaged +28.5% growth against the decade's 12.9% — the current year is running faster than its own long-run rate.

Acceleration check: trailing-twelve-month revenue grew +27.9% over the last 4 quarters against +20.4%/yr over the last 8 — accelerating; TTM profit +23.3% vs +27.2%/yr — rolling over.

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.

ASK Automotive Ltd's operating margin is 12.0% in the Jun 26 quarter, −1.0 percentage points against the same quarter a year ago. That is the widest this company has ever printed on a full-year basis. Across 8 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 8.0% to 13.0%. The current quarter sits inside that band.

The latest quarter's operating margin is 12.0%, −1.0 pp against the same quarter a year ago. Across 8 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 8.0%–13.0%, and FY26's 13.0% is the top of that band — a record year.

🚨 Why the margin moved: operating margin went −1.8 pp year on year while gross margin went −5.3 pp — the loss came mostly from the gross line: input costs and pricing.

Worth repeating from the valuation section: cheap against its own history on record margins is not the same thing as cheap — a record margin flatters every ratio built on top of it.

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

ASK Automotive Ltd earned ₹85.0 Cr of net profit in the Jun 26 quarter, +28.8% year on year. It is the 11th consecutive quarter of growth. Full-year FY26 profit was ₹297 Cr. The 7-year compound rate is 14.7%. That is 6.3% of the quarter's revenue. The same quarter a year earlier earned ₹66.0 Cr.

Jun 26 profit was ₹85.0 Cr, +28.8% year on year — the 11th consecutive quarter of growth. On the full year, FY26 printed ₹297 Cr (+19.8%), and the 7-year compound rate is 14.7%.

Why profit moved: revenue contributed +52.4% and the margin −1.0 pp — the quarter was revenue-led, with the margin roughly flat.

Pace comparison, last four quarters: profit +23.4% vs revenue +28.5%. Profit is growing slower than sales — costs are eating the growth before it reaches the bottom line.

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.

Over the last 3 fiscal years 134% of ASK Automotive Ltd's reported profit arrived as operating cash — the cash follows the profit. In FY26 that was ₹301 Cr of operating cash against ₹297 Cr of profit. After ₹500 Cr of capital spending, ₹−199 Cr was left as free cash.

FY26: operating cash of ₹301 Cr against reported profit of ₹297 Cr, leaving free cash of ₹−199 Cr after ₹500 Cr of capital spending. Across the last 3 fiscal years the conversion rate is 134% of profit.

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

Why conversion sits at 134%: the cash cycle held roughly steady between FY21 and FY26 — so conversion tracks profitability rather than the cycle.

Router verdict: the bigger cash user is investment — capital spending ran 4.2× depreciation over three years, so the next section's job is to check what that build-out is buying.

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).

ASK Automotive Ltd's cash conversion cycle runs 18 days in FY26, down from 18 days in FY21. Capital spending ran ₹1,146 Cr over the last 3 years. At FY26 sales of ₹4,176 Cr each day of that cycle holds about ₹11.4 Cr, so roughly ₹206 Cr sits inside the business at any moment.

Why this happened. ALPS (die castings and alloy wheels) grew 75% YoY in Q1 FY27 (C012), making it ASK's fastest-growing and highest-value segment. The homologation moat is fully in place here: ALPS products are safety-critical castings that take years to qualify. Confirmed alloy-wheel orders stand at ₹70–90 Cr in FY27 and ₹250 Cr in FY28 (C025). Taiwanese qualification remains in final safety testing — the timeline has slipped before, but approved orders already give a floor for FY28 revenue.

FY26: debtors at 26 days, inventory at 41 days — roughly 1.3 months of stock waiting to sell; that is where the cash sits while it waits — for a full cycle of 18 days, tighter than FY21's 18.

The full loop: cash goes out to suppliers and production on day 0; stock waits 41 days to sell; customers pay about 26 days after that; and suppliers themselves are paid at 49 days — netting out to the 18-day cycle.

In money terms: at FY26 sales of ₹4,176 Cr, each day of the cycle holds about ₹11.4 Cr — so the 18-day loop keeps roughly ₹206 Cr sitting inside the business at any moment.

On the investment side: capital spending of ₹1,146 Cr over the last 3 fiscal years against ₹272 Cr of depreciation — the company is building well ahead of wear-and-tear. Capital work-in-progress stands at ₹152 Cr (FY26) — capacity paid for but not yet earning.

The synthesis: the cash is going into capacity, not disappearing into the cycle — the question becomes whether the new capacity earns.

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.

ASK Automotive Ltd earns a ROCE of 25% in FY26. That is up from a trough of 16% in FY22. Return on invested capital clears the cost of that capital by +5.4 percentage points, so growth here adds value rather than only size. The wiring behind it is 7.1% net margin on 1.63× asset turns.

FY26 ROCE is 25%, recovered from a FY22 trough of 16% — the full ladder below shows the fall and the climb, undoctored.

Why the return is what it is — the wiring (FY26): 7.1% net margin × 1.63× asset turns × 1.95× balance-sheet leverage ≈ 22.6% on equity. Margin does its share; leverage is a meaningful part of the equation.

The capstone test — ROIC − WACC: 17.4% − 12.0% = a +5.4 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. A spread this wide means every rupee reinvested creates more than a rupee of value — the engine compounds.

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.

ASK Automotive Ltd carries total debt of ₹679 Cr against shareholder equity of ₹1,311 Cr as of Mar 26, a debt-to-equity of 0.52. On the annual view that ratio went from 0.51 in FY23 to 0.52 in FY26. Read the returns elsewhere on this page with that leverage in mind.

Why this happened. The operating-leverage catapult applies: Karoli's large fixed-cost base is installed and paid for, so each additional ₹100 Cr of revenue flows through at a meaningfully higher incremental margin than the average OPM of 12%. Karoli monthly revenue reached ₹110 Cr (C023) with more than 1,500 employees recruited. Management guided Karoli to 80% utilization and the south-Bangalore plant operational before March 2027 (C026). The constraint is now filling the plants, not building them.

Mar 26: total debt of ₹679 Cr against shareholder equity of ₹1,311 Cr — a debt-to-equity of 0.52. On the annual view, debt-to-equity went from 0.51 (FY23) to 0.52 (FY26). Read the returns on this page with that leverage in mind.

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.

Promoters cut 10.0 points of ASK Automotive Ltd over 8 quarters, the biggest move on the register. That takes promoters to 75.0% of the company. Domestic institutions moved +6.8 points over the same window, to 11.0%. The register is read on the four disclosed classes only; nothing is inferred between filings.

The register over the last two years — Promoters: −10.0 points over 8 quarters to 75.0%; Domestic institutions: +6.8 points over 8 quarters to 11.0%; Foreign institutions: +4.6 points over 8 quarters to 9.5%.

🚨 Why the register moved: promoters drove it (−10.0 points), absorbed on the other side by domestic institutions (+6.8 points) — distribution into the market’s bid.

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.

ASK Automotive 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.

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.

ASK Automotive Ltd trades at 38.9× P/E, mid-range by its own standards (54th percentile). Its long-run median P/E is 37.9×, measured across 2.8 years of weekly readings. This places the multiple against the stock’s own record, and says nothing about what the business is worth.

Today's P/E of 38.9× is mid-range by its own standards (54th percentile), against a long-run median of 37.9× measured over 2.8 years of weekly readings. This is a comparison against the stock's own history — not a claim about what it is worth.

Why the multiple sits where it does: over the past year annual EPS moved +20.1% against a +21.1% price move — the price outran earnings, pushing the multiple UP its own range.

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

What the price assumes This reading works the multiple backwards. It asks one question: what yearly rate of profit growth is a buyer at the market price already paying for? The number is the growth rate that makes eleven years of profit — six years growing, then five fading — add up to that day's market price, once each year is discounted at 11% a year.

Solved at its 25 August 2026 price, ASK Automotive Ltd was paying for profit growth of about 21.5% a year. Profit itself has compounded 14.7% a year over the past 7 years. Today the market pays 38.9× P/E, the 54th percentile of its own 3-year range.

What the two numbers say together. The multiple is unremarkable against its own past, and the growth the price is paying for is above what this company has actually delivered.

How to hold this number: it is a reading of one day's price, taken on 25 August 2026, not a running figure — every other number on this page, the multiple included, is read off the live quote as of 11 September 2026. A higher price is paying for more growth and a lower price for less, so it moves whenever the price does, and this page does not restate it between measurements.

Stage: Consistent 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).

ASK Automotive Ltd reads as consistent on its fundamental arc. Consistent — revenue, profit and EPS growth have stayed positive through the window, with ROCE at 26.8% and holding. The read is built from 11 quarters across 4 curves, on full evidence.

Why it matters: steady curves with healthy returns are the compounding setup — the risk is the price, not the business.

4-Factor Sector Score

58.3/100 — rank 2 of 4 in Auto Ancillaries - 2 Wheelers · 91% evidence confidence

ASK Automotive Ltd scores 58.3 out of 100 against the 4 companies it is compared with in Auto Ancillaries - 2 Wheelers, ranking 2. Balanced evidence: keep at normal research priority and require another comparable period before raising conviction.

The four contributions add to the total exactly: 21 + 17.9 + 11.4 + 8 = 58.3. 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.

Said versus delivered

What ASK Automotive Ltd's management promised, set against what actually arrived — 4 tracked promises on the record. Read straight from the company’s own earnings calls. A promise that slipped stays on this page after it is met.

Growth Guidance Raised from Mid-Teens to High-Teens · 5 August 2026. In the Jan 2026 call, management repeatedly framed mid-teens growth as its ongoing expectation. In the Aug 2026 call, management materially raised the outlook to high-teens full-year growth, citing recent momentum but without clearly quantifying the change in underlying assumptions.

FY27 Capex Outlook Increased Materially · 5 August 2026. The Jan 2026 call guided to FY27 capex of no more than Rs. 400 crore, while the Aug 2026 call indicated that capex may reach Rs. 700 crore. Management attributed the increase to new orders and an urgently required southern plant, but did not reconcile this substantial revision with the prior FY27 guidance or distinguish committed spending from the contingent amount.

🚨 Captive Solar Plant Commissioning Delayed · 5 August 2026. The Jan 2026 and Oct 2025 calls both expected the 11.55-megawatt Rajasthan captive solar plant to be operational by Q1 FY27. In the Aug 2026 call, management moved commissioning to Q2 FY27, a one-quarter schedule slip that was not accompanied by an explanation.

Export Guidance Reversal · 29 January 2026. In the July 2025 call, management was explicitly confident about achieving 20% year-on-year growth in exports for FY26 despite geopolitical headwinds. However, in the January 2026 call, this guidance was completely retracted to flat growth (0%), with management admitting they only hope to reach last year's numbers due to tariff uncertainties. Earlier call (Jul 2025): “However, we are still confident that we will grow the exports at 20% year-on-year during FY26.” Later call (Jan 2026): “FY26 exports, as I mentioned, will be flat... However, based on the Q3 FY26 performance, we feel that we will reach last year”.

Every quote above is taken word for word from the company’s own earnings calls.

Frequently asked questions