Black Box 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.

Black Box Ltd trades at ₹801, in a confirmed uptrend and 20 weeks into that stage. That is +12.2% against its own 200-day average. It sits at 55% of a 52-week range of ₹462 to ₹1,078. On relative strength it is currently behind the NIFTY 500 on a trailing-13-week view (10 weeks and counting).

Today the stock is in a confirmed uptrend — week 20 of stage 2, confirmed. At ₹801 it trades +12.2% versus its 200-day average and sits at 55% of its 52-week range (₹462–₹1,078).

Against the market, two honest reads. Cumulative: over the last 10.5 years the stock moved +5,182% while the NIFTY 500 moved +267% — ahead of the index over the full window. Recent form: on a trailing-13-week view the stock is currently behind (10 weeks and counting; last ahead the week of 2026-07-03) — 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.

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.

Black Box Ltd trades at 49.8× P/E, at the pricey end of its own range (87th percentile). Its long-run median P/E is 32.0×, measured across 8.3 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 49.8× is at the pricey end of its own range (87th percentile), against a long-run median of 32.0× measured over 8.3 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 +1.3% against a +78.3% price move — the price outran earnings, pushing the multiple UP its own range.

The price move, decomposed: over 5y, of the +28.1%/yr price move, ~+15.2%/yr came from earnings growth and ~+12.9 pp from the multiple (expanding). The split is the honest approximate (price return minus earnings growth); it makes the rally itself visible instead of hiding it behind the percentile.

Put together: the multiple is full 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 13 June 2026 price, Black Box Ltd was paying for profit growth of about 34.5% a year. Today the market pays 49.8× P/E, the 87th percentile of its own 8-year range.

What the two numbers say together. The multiple is full against its own past, and the growth the price is paying for is the whole of what a buyer is backing.

How to hold this number: it is a reading of one day's price, taken on 13 June 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: Topping out 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).

Black Box Ltd reads as topping out on its fundamental arc. Topping out — profit and EPS growth have decelerated hard (profit growth +500.0% at its peak → +6.1% latest) while ROCE still reads 18.7%. The read is built from 12 quarters across 4 curves, on full evidence.

Why it matters: decelerating from a peak is where good stories quietly end — the multiple usually notices late.

4-Factor Sector Score

35.0/100 — rank 5 of 5 in Data Centre · 100% evidence confidence

Black Box Ltd scores 35.0 out of 100 against the 5 companies it is compared with in Data Centre, ranking 5. Balanced evidence: keep at normal research priority and require another comparable period before raising conviction.

The four contributions add to the total exactly: 8.5 + 14.7 + 5.1 + 6.7 = 35. 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.

Black Box Ltd reported ₹1,718 Cr of revenue in the Jun 26 quarter, +23.9% year on year. That is the 4th straight quarter of year-on-year growth. Over 10 years it has compounded at 21.8% a year. The last full year, FY26, came in at ₹6,322 Cr. The last four reported quarters add to ₹6,654 Cr.

FY26 revenue came in at ₹6,322 Cr (+5.9% on the year), capping 10 years at 21.8% compound. The latest quarter (Jun 26) printed ₹1,718 Cr, +23.9% year on year — the 4th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

Pace check: the last four quarters averaged +12.4% growth against the decade's 21.8% — the current year is running slower than its own long-run rate.

Acceleration check: trailing-twelve-month revenue grew +12.2% over the last 4 quarters against +4.2%/yr over the last 8 — accelerating; TTM profit +6.1% vs +22.6%/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.

Black Box Ltd's operating margin is 9.0% 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 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged −25.0% to 9.0%. The current quarter sits inside that band.

The latest quarter's operating margin is 9.0%, +1.0 pp against the same quarter a year ago. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged −25.0%–9.0%, and FY26's 9.0% is the top of that band — a record year.

Why the margin moved: operating margin went +0.9 pp year on year while gross margin went +3.5 pp — the gain 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.

Black Box Ltd earned ₹56.0 Cr of net profit in the Jun 26 quarter, +19.1% year on year. It is the 2nd consecutive quarter of growth. Full-year FY26 profit was ₹218 Cr. That is 3.3% of the quarter's revenue. The same quarter a year earlier earned ₹47.0 Cr.

Jun 26 profit was ₹56.0 Cr, +19.1% year on year — the 2nd consecutive quarter of growth. On the full year, FY26 printed ₹218 Cr (+6.3%).

Why profit moved: revenue contributed +23.9% and the margin +1.0 pp — the quarter was revenue-led, with the margin roughly flat.

Pace comparison, last four quarters: profit +6.6% vs revenue +12.4%. 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 22% of Black Box Ltd's reported profit arrived as operating cash — a gap worth watching. In FY26 that was ₹84.0 Cr of operating cash against ₹218 Cr of profit. After ₹230 Cr of capital spending, ₹−146 Cr was left as free cash.

FY26: operating cash of ₹84.0 Cr against reported profit of ₹218 Cr, leaving free cash of ₹−146 Cr after ₹230 Cr of capital spending. Across the last 3 fiscal years the conversion rate is 22% 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 22%: the cash cycle stretched 58 days between FY21 and FY26 — more of each rupee of profit waits inside the cycle before arriving. Less than 70% of profit arriving as cash is the thing to watch on this page.

Router verdict: conversion is below par and the cash cycle has stretched 58 days — the next section's job is to find where the cash is stuck.

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).

Black Box Ltd's cash conversion cycle runs −10 days in FY26, up from −68 days in FY21. Capital spending ran ₹430 Cr over the last 3 years. At FY26 sales of ₹6,322 Cr each day of that cycle holds about ₹17.3 Cr, so roughly ₹−173 Cr sits inside the business at any moment.

FY26: debtors at 67 days, inventory at 53 days — roughly 1.7 months of stock waiting to sell; that is where the cash sits while it waits — for a full cycle of −10 days, looser than FY21's −68.

The full loop: cash goes out to suppliers and production on day 0; stock waits 53 days to sell; customers pay about 67 days after that; and suppliers themselves are paid at 129 days — netting out to the −10-day cycle.

In money terms: at FY26 sales of ₹6,322 Cr, each day of the cycle holds about ₹17.3 Cr — so the −10-day loop keeps roughly ₹−173 Cr sitting inside the business at any moment.

On the investment side: capital spending of ₹430 Cr over the last 3 fiscal years against ₹343 Cr of depreciation — building somewhat ahead of wear-and-tear. Capital work-in-progress stands at ₹0.0 Cr (FY26) — capacity paid for but not yet earning.

The synthesis: the working-capital loop is the cash sink the router flagged — watch the cycle, not the P&L.

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.

Black Box Ltd earns a ROCE of 22% in FY26. That is up from a trough of −45% in FY14. Return on invested capital clears the cost of that capital by +10.1 percentage points, so growth here adds value rather than only size. The wiring behind it is 3.4% net margin on 1.47× asset turns.

FY26 ROCE is 22%, recovered from a FY14 trough of −45% — the full ladder below shows the fall and the climb, undoctored.

Why the return is what it is — the wiring (FY26): 3.4% net margin × 1.47× asset turns × 3.34× balance-sheet leverage ≈ 16.7% on equity. Margin does its share; leverage is a meaningful part of the equation.

The capstone test — ROIC − WACC: 22.1% − 12.0% = a +10.1 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.

Black Box Ltd carries total debt of ₹1,153 Cr against shareholder equity of ₹1,287 Cr as of Mar 26, a debt-to-equity of 0.90. On the annual view that ratio went from 1.85 in FY22 to 0.90 in FY26. Read the returns elsewhere on this page with that leverage in mind.

Mar 26: total debt of ₹1,153 Cr against shareholder equity of ₹1,287 Cr — a debt-to-equity of 0.90. On the annual view, debt-to-equity went from 1.85 (FY22) to 0.90 (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.

Domestic institutions added 3.4 points of Black Box Ltd over 8 quarters, the biggest move on the register. That takes domestic institutions to 3.4% of the company. Promoters moved −1.1 points over the same window, to 70.0%. The register is read on the four disclosed classes only; nothing is inferred between filings.

The register over the last two years — Domestic institutions: +3.4 points over 8 quarters to 3.4%; Promoters: −1.1 points over 8 quarters to 70.0%; Foreign institutions: +0.0 points over 8 quarters to 4.7%.

Why the register moved: domestic institutions drove it (+3.4 points), absorbed on the other side by promoters (−1.1 points) — steady accumulation by institutions reading the same numbers this page reads.

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.

Black Box 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.

Frequently asked questions