Praj Industries 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.

Praj Industries Ltd trades at ₹312, in a downtrend and 3 weeks into that stage. That is −14.0% against its own 200-day average. It sits at 23% of a 52-week range of ₹284 to ₹408. On relative strength it is currently behind the NIFTY 500 on a trailing-13-week view (9 weeks and counting).

Today the stock is in a downtrend — week 3 of stage 4, confirmed. At ₹312 it trades −14.0% versus its 200-day average and sits at 23% of its 52-week range (₹284–₹408).

Against the market, two honest reads. Cumulative: over the last 10.4 years the stock moved +271% while the NIFTY 500 moved +276% — behind the index over the full window. Recent form: on a trailing-13-week view the stock is currently behind (9 weeks and counting; last ahead the week of 2026-06-17) — 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.

Praj Industries Ltd trades at 288.0× P/E, about the priciest it has ever traded. Its long-run median P/E is 40.5×, measured across 10.3 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 288.0× is about the priciest it has ever traded, against a long-run median of 40.5× measured over 10.3 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 −89.1% against a −33.5% price move — the price outran earnings, pushing the multiple UP its own range.

The price move, decomposed: over 5y, of the −3.2%/yr price move, ~−11.4%/yr came from earnings growth and ~+8.2 pp from the multiple (expanding); over 10y, of the +13.7%/yr price move, ~−5.8%/yr came from earnings growth and ~+19.5 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.

Stage: Deteriorating 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).

Praj Industries Ltd reads as deteriorating on its fundamental arc. Deteriorating — revenue, profit and EPS growth are shrinking (revenue growth −1.9% latest against +31.3% at its 12-quarter best), ROCE slipping at 4.7%. The read is built from 12 quarters across 4 curves, on full evidence.

🚨 Why it matters: falling curves mean every cheap-looking ratio below needs a discount for direction.

4-Factor Sector Score

22.3/100 — rank 16 of 16 in Capital Goods - Engineering Heavy · 90% evidence confidence

Praj Industries Ltd scores 22.3 out of 100 against the 16 companies it is compared with in Capital Goods - Engineering Heavy, ranking 16. Balanced evidence: keep at normal research priority and require another comparable period before raising conviction.

The four contributions add to the total exactly: 5.1 + 6.9 + 0.5 + 9.8 = 22.3. 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.

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

Praj Industries Ltd reported ₹845 Cr of revenue in the Mar 26 quarter, −1.7% year on year. Over 10 years it has compounded at 12.0% a year. The last full year, FY26, came in at ₹3,168 Cr. The last four reported quarters add to ₹3,168 Cr.

FY26 revenue came in at ₹3,168 Cr (−1.9% on the year), capping 10 years at 12.0% compound. The latest quarter (Mar 26) printed ₹845 Cr, −1.7% year on year.

Pace check: the last four quarters averaged −2.1% growth against the decade's 12.0% — the current year is running slower than its own long-run rate.

Acceleration check: trailing-twelve-month revenue grew −1.9% over the last 4 quarters against −4.4%/yr over the last 8 — stabilising; TTM profit −89.0% vs −70.9%/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.

Praj Industries Ltd's operating margin is 2.8% in the Mar 26 quarter, −6.2 percentage points against the same quarter a year ago. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 4.9% to 11.0%. The current quarter is running below every full year in that window.

The latest quarter's operating margin is 2.8%, −6.2 pp against the same quarter a year ago. Across 13 fiscal years the operating margin has ranged 4.9%–11.0%.

🚨 Why the margin moved: operating margin went −6.0 pp year on year while gross margin went −9.3 pp — the loss came mostly from the gross line: input costs and pricing.

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

Praj Industries Ltd earned ₹12.0 Cr of net profit in the Mar 26 quarter, −70.0% year on year. Full-year FY26 profit was ₹24.0 Cr. The 10-year compound rate is −11.6%. That is 1.4% of the quarter's revenue. The same quarter a year earlier earned ₹40.0 Cr. 1 of the last 12 reported quarters were loss-making.

Mar 26 profit was ₹12.0 Cr, −70.0% year on year. On the full year, FY26 printed ₹24.0 Cr (−89.0%), and the 10-year compound rate is −11.6%.

🚨 Why profit moved: revenue contributed −1.7% and the margin −6.2 pp — the quarter was revenue-led despite a thinner margin.

Pace comparison, last four quarters: profit −89.5% vs revenue −2.1%. 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 84% of Praj Industries Ltd's reported profit arrived as operating cash — the cash follows the profit. In FY26 that was ₹200 Cr of operating cash against ₹24.0 Cr of profit. After ₹87.0 Cr of capital spending, ₹113 Cr was left as free cash.

FY26: operating cash of ₹200 Cr against reported profit of ₹24.0 Cr, leaving free cash of ₹113 Cr after ₹87.0 Cr of capital spending. Across the last 3 fiscal years the conversion rate is 84% 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 84%: the cash cycle tightened 29 days between FY21 and FY26 — cash that used to wait in the cycle now reaches the bank sooner.

Router verdict: the bigger cash user is investment — capital spending ran 2.0× 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).

Praj Industries Ltd's cash conversion cycle runs −8 days in FY26, down from 21 days in FY21. Capital spending ran ₹478 Cr over the last 3 years. At FY26 sales of ₹3,168 Cr each day of that cycle holds about ₹8.7 Cr, so roughly ₹−69.0 Cr sits inside the business at any moment.

FY26: debtors at 64 days, inventory at 60 days — roughly 2.0 months of stock waiting to sell; that is where the cash sits while it waits — for a full cycle of −8 days, tighter than FY21's 21.

The full loop: cash goes out to suppliers and production on day 0; stock waits 60 days to sell; customers pay about 64 days after that; and suppliers themselves are paid at 132 days — netting out to the −8-day cycle.

In money terms: at FY26 sales of ₹3,168 Cr, each day of the cycle holds about ₹8.7 Cr — so the −8-day loop keeps roughly ₹−69.0 Cr sitting inside the business at any moment.

On the investment side: capital spending of ₹478 Cr over the last 3 fiscal years against ₹236 Cr of depreciation — the company is building well ahead of wear-and-tear. Capital work-in-progress stands at ₹6.0 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.

Praj Industries Ltd earns a ROCE of 6% in FY26. That is up from a trough of 6% in FY18. Return on invested capital clears the cost of that capital by −9.9 percentage points, so growth here is not yet paying for the capital it uses. The wiring behind it is 0.8% net margin on 1.04× asset turns.

FY26 ROCE is 6%, recovered from a FY18 trough of 6% — the full ladder below shows the fall and the climb, undoctored.

🚨 Why the return is what it is — the wiring (FY26): 0.8% net margin × 1.04× asset turns × 2.33× balance-sheet leverage ≈ 1.9% on equity. Margin does its share; leverage is a meaningful part of the equation.

The capstone test — ROIC − WACC: 2.1% − 12.0% = a −9.9 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.

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.

Praj Industries Ltd carries total debt of ₹173 Cr against shareholder equity of ₹1,309 Cr as of Mar 26, a debt-to-equity of 0.13 — effectively unlevered. On the annual view that ratio went from 0.02 in FY22 to 0.13 in FY26. The returns elsewhere on this page are therefore earned rather than borrowed.

Mar 26: total debt of ₹173 Cr against shareholder equity of ₹1,309 Cr — a debt-to-equity of 0.13. On the annual view, debt-to-equity went from 0.02 (FY22) to 0.13 (FY26). The returns on this page are earned, not borrowed.

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 cut 2.6 points of Praj Industries Ltd over 8 quarters, the biggest move on the register. That takes domestic institutions to 14.1% of the company. Foreign institutions moved −0.8 points over the same window, to 17.8%. The register is read on the four disclosed classes only; nothing is inferred between filings.

The register over the last two years — Domestic institutions: −2.6 points over 8 quarters to 14.1%; Foreign institutions: −0.8 points over 8 quarters to 17.8%; Promoters: +0.0 points over 8 quarters to 32.8%.

🚨 Why the register moved: domestic institutions drove it (−2.6 points), alongside foreign institutions (−0.8 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.

Praj Industries Ltd: the Z-score reads 4.39. A Z-score above roughly 3 reads as safe and below roughly 1.8 as the distress zone, so this sits well clear of distress. It is a distance-to-distress estimate from the balance sheet, not a forecast of failure.

Why it matters: a Z-score of 4.39 sits well clear of the distress zone — the balance sheet is not the risk here.

The safety line in one sentence: the Z-score reads 4.39.

Frequently asked questions