IST 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.

IST Ltd trades at ₹646, in a downtrend and 42 weeks into that stage. That is −7.9% against its own 200-day average. It sits at 12% of a 52-week range of ₹606 to ₹937. On relative strength it is currently behind the NIFTY 500 on a trailing-13-week view (2 weeks and counting).

Today the stock is in a downtrend — week 42 of stage 4, confirmed. At ₹646 it trades −7.9% versus its 200-day average and sits at 12% of its 52-week range (₹606–₹937).

Against the market, two honest reads. Cumulative: over the last 10.5 years the stock moved +93% while the NIFTY 500 moved +273% — behind the index over the full window. Recent form: on a trailing-13-week view the stock is currently behind (2 weeks and counting; last ahead the week of 2026-08-21) — 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.

IST Ltd trades at 4.7× P/E, near the bottom of its own range — cheaper only 22% of the time. Its long-run median P/E is 6.4×, measured across 10.5 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 4.7× is near the bottom of its own range — cheaper only 22% of the time, against a long-run median of 6.4× measured over 10.5 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 +9.7% against a −28.5% price move — earnings outran the price, pushing the multiple DOWN its own range.

The price move, decomposed: over 5y, of the +5.4%/yr price move, ~+9.8%/yr came from earnings growth and ~−4.4 pp from the multiple (compressing); over 10y, of the +7.0%/yr price move, ~+11.0%/yr came from earnings growth and ~−4.0 pp from the multiple (compressing). 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 low 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, IST Ltd was paying for profit growth of about −6.0% a year. Profit itself has compounded 8.2% a year over the past 10 years. Today the market pays 4.7× P/E, the 22nd percentile of its own 11-year range.

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

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: Mixed 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).

IST Ltd reads as mixed on its fundamental arc. Mixed — the growth curves are steadily positive, but ROCE at 13.0% is below the 15% bar this page requires to call it Consistent. The read is built from 8 quarters across 4 curves, on partial evidence.

Why it matters: when the curves disagree, the per-curve reads above matter more than any single verdict.

The latest quarter’s profit carries a one-off item larger than the operating base, so the profit curve is shown but does not vote in the stage call.

Return readings here are annual, not quarterly — read as level and direction only; they can confirm the growth curves but never drive the stage on their own.

A partial read: at least one curve is short, or the returns curve is not the computed quarterly series — hold the stage word a little more loosely.

4-Factor Sector Score

41.9/100 — rank 4 of 4 in Auto Ancillaries - Spare Parts Accessories · 73% evidence confidence

IST Ltd scores 41.9 out of 100 against the 4 companies it is compared with in Auto Ancillaries - Spare Parts Accessories, ranking 4. Balanced evidence: keep at normal research priority and require another comparable period before raising conviction.

The four contributions add to the total exactly: 12.8 + 13.9 + 12.2 + 3 = 41.9. 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.

IST Ltd reported ₹35.0 Cr of revenue in the Jun 26 quarter, +20.7% year on year. That is the 3rd straight quarter of year-on-year growth. Over 10 years it has compounded at 4.9% a year. The last full year, FY26, came in at ₹126 Cr. The last four reported quarters add to ₹132 Cr.

FY26 revenue came in at ₹126 Cr (+9.6% on the year), capping 10 years at 4.9% compound. The latest quarter (Jun 26) printed ₹35.0 Cr, +20.7% year on year — the 3rd consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

Pace check: the last four quarters averaged +15.4% growth against the decade's 4.9% — the current year is running faster than its own long-run rate.

Acceleration check: trailing-twelve-month revenue grew +14.8% over the last 4 quarters against +9.5%/yr over the last 8 — accelerating; TTM profit +3.1% vs +7.5%/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.

IST Ltd's operating margin is 46.0% in the Jun 26 quarter, −26.0 percentage points against the same quarter a year ago. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 59.0% to 79.0%. The current quarter is running below every full year in that window.

The latest quarter's operating margin is 46.0%, −26.0 pp against the same quarter a year ago. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 59.0%–79.0%.

🚨 Why the margin moved: operating margin went −26.7 pp year on year while gross margin went −0.4 pp — the loss came mostly below the gross line: operating leverage, with costs spread over a bigger revenue base.

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

IST Ltd earned ₹83.0 Cr of net profit in the Jun 26 quarter. That quarter carries a one-off item larger than its own revenue, so the year-on-year figure is an artefact rather than a trading result. Full-year FY26 profit was ₹154 Cr. The 10-year compound rate is 8.2%. That is 237.1% of the quarter's revenue.

Jun 26 profit was ₹83.0 Cr, +15.3% year on year. On the full year, FY26 printed ₹154 Cr (+10.0%), and the 10-year compound rate is 8.2%.

🚨 Read this profit with care: at ₹83.0 Cr it is larger than the whole quarter's revenue of ₹35.0 Cr — no operating business earns more than it sells, so this is a one-off item (a debt-to-equity conversion, a tax write-back or an asset sale), not money the business earned. The underlying operations are running at 46.0% operating margin; the year-on-year jump and any P/E built on this number are artefacts of the one-off, not a real earnings turn.

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 31% of IST Ltd's reported profit arrived as operating cash — a gap worth watching. In FY26 that was ₹85.0 Cr of operating cash against ₹154 Cr of profit. After ₹−32.0 Cr of capital spending, ₹117 Cr was left as free cash. Cash resolution here is annual, because quarterly cash statements are not published.

FY26: operating cash of ₹85.0 Cr against reported profit of ₹154 Cr, leaving free cash of ₹117 Cr after ₹−32.0 Cr of capital spending. Across the last 3 fiscal years the conversion rate is 31% 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 31%: the cash cycle stretched 420 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 420 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).

IST Ltd's cash conversion cycle runs 580 days in FY26, up from 160 days in FY21. Capital spending ran ₹18.0 Cr over the last 3 years. At FY26 sales of ₹126 Cr each day of that cycle holds about ₹0.3 Cr, so roughly ₹200 Cr sits inside the business at any moment.

FY26: debtors at 24 days, inventory at 570 days — roughly 18.8 months of stock waiting to sell; that is where the cash sits while it waits — for a full cycle of 580 days, looser than FY21's 160.

The full loop: cash goes out to suppliers and production on day 0; stock waits 570 days to sell; customers pay about 24 days after that; and suppliers themselves are paid at 15 days — netting out to the 580-day cycle.

In money terms: at FY26 sales of ₹126 Cr, each day of the cycle holds about ₹0.3 Cr — so the 580-day loop keeps roughly ₹200 Cr sitting inside the business at any moment.

On the investment side: capital spending of ₹18.0 Cr over the last 3 fiscal years against ₹16.0 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.

IST Ltd earns a ROCE of 13% in FY26. That is up from a trough of 10% in FY23. A return-on-invested-capital spread against the cost of capital is not computable from what is held here. The wiring behind it is 122.2% net margin on 0.07× asset turns.

FY26 ROCE is 13%, recovered from a FY23 trough of 10% — the full ladder below shows the fall and the climb, undoctored.

Why the return is what it is — the wiring (FY26): 122.2% net margin × 0.07× asset turns × 1.08× balance-sheet leverage ≈ 9.2% on equity. Margin is doing the heavy lifting; leverage is modest — this is an earned return, not a borrowed one.

Debt Debt-to-equity says how much of the business is funded by borrowings; interest cover says how many times operating profit pays the interest bill. Low and high, respectively, is the safe corner.

IST Ltd carries ₹4.0 Cr of borrowings against ₹1,692 Cr of equity in FY26, a debt-to-equity of 0.00. Operating profit covers the interest bill 25×. Over 5 years borrowings went from ₹5.0 Cr to ₹4.0 Cr. Capital spending ran ₹18.0 Cr across the last 3 of those years.

FY26: borrowings of ₹4.0 Cr against equity of ₹1,692 Cr — a debt-to-equity of 0.00. Operating profit covers the interest bill 25×. Over 5 years borrowings went from ₹5.0 Cr to ₹4.0 Cr while capital spending ran ₹18.0 Cr in just the last 3 — the build-out is being paid for out of cash, not debt.

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 1.1 points of IST Ltd over 8 quarters, the biggest move on the register. That takes domestic institutions to 1.1% of the company. Promoters moved +0.0 points over the same window, to 75.0%. The register is read on the four disclosed classes only; nothing is inferred between filings.

The register over the last two years — Domestic institutions: +1.1 points over 8 quarters to 1.1%; Promoters: +0.0 points over 8 quarters to 75.0%.

Why the register moved: domestic institutions drove it (+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.

IST 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