Altman Z″
Needs current assets and current liabilities.
A plain-language read of the business, how it actually earns, where the edge is, and the economics of every reported segment — taken from the annual report and investor presentation, not a one-line industry label.
Trading at 79.2x earnings against its own median of 52.9x: 1.3 standard deviations above its usual range. This compares the company with its own history, not with other companies.
How to read this: Price shows the closing price with its 50-day (amber) and 200-day (grey) averages; bars at the bottom are daily volume, green on up days and red on down days; dashed lines mark the 52-week high and low. vs Nifty 50 starts both at 100 so you can see which did better over the period. P/E shows what the market paid for each rupee of profit, inside the band it usually trades in. Drawdown shows how far below its best price the share has been. Hover anywhere for the numbers on that day.
The three to six things that actually matter about this company, each with the exact filing and note it came from — never a fact without the context that makes it meaningful.
What the numbers mean when read together — computed from the filings, not a score.
Operating cash is only 19% of profit, and operating cash has been negative in 2 of the last 12 years — this is a pattern, not a one-off timing gap.
Why this reading: Flagged because the shortfall is persistent (2 weak years), material, and unexplained by a single year of working-capital movement.
Latest operating cash ₹71 cr vs trailing profit ₹370 cr. A repeated gap between profit and cash points to structural earnings quality issues rather than benign timing.
Over the last year profit declined 31% even as revenue grew 3.8% — margins are compressing, and any premium being paid rests on a year that moved backwards on the bottom line.
Why this reading: Flagged because the pattern is clear, material, and not explained by the visible numbers — the kind of thing worth understanding before anything else.
Trailing revenue ₹14,980 cr (up 3.8%) but trailing profit ₹442 cr (down 31%). Rising sales with falling profit points to cost inflation not passed through, mix shift to lower-margin lines, or one-off gains in the base year.
Free cash flow is negative — the business consumes more than it generates once capex is paid. Fine if it is deliberate growth investment; a problem if it is structural.
Why this reading: Noted with caution — worth watching, but not yet conclusive on its own. Business has ups and downs; one soft reading is not a verdict.
Latest free cash flow ₹-58 cr, negative in 4 of 12 years. Check whether the burn funds expansion (dark stores, plants, ports) or merely sustains operations.
Borrowings rose 33% over two years while the company also carries ₹2,762 cr in investments. Why borrow at interest while parking money elsewhere is a fair question.
Why this reading: Noted with caution — worth watching, but not yet conclusive on its own. Business has ups and downs; one soft reading is not a verdict.
Borrowings moved to ₹992 cr from ₹744 cr. Simultaneous large investments can be legitimate treasury management, or a sign that reported cash is not freely available.
Debt rose over 3 years, and most of it (140%) has turned into fixed assets and projects under construction — the borrowing is building the business.
Why this reading: A positive signal: leverage taken on is visibly becoming productive capacity, not disappearing.
New borrowing ₹341 cr largely matched by an asset build of ₹479 cr. Debt that funds capacity is a different thing from debt that funds nothing.
Every score below is calculated here from the reported numbers — none of it is asserted. Open the notebook at the foot of the section to see each formula with this company's figures in it.
Needs current assets and current liabilities.
Piotroski F-Score — fundamental momentum — Joseph Piotroski, University of Chicago, 2000, in a study of whether accounting signals could improve returns among cheap stocks.
Nine yes-or-no tests across profitability, leverage and operating efficiency. Each pass scores one. It asks a narrow question: is this business getting better or worse on its own terms, year over year?
How to read it7 or more suggests improving fundamentals; 3 or fewer suggests deterioration. It measures direction, not quality — a weak company improving can score higher than a strong one holding steady.
Where it failsA single year of comparison, so one unusual year distorts it. Says nothing about valuation, competitive position or management. Piotroski designed it to rank already-cheap stocks, not to judge a company in isolation.
Needs trade receivables, current assets, other expenses.
Accruals are 2.2% of assets. Free cash flow negative in 4 of 12 years.
DuPont decomposition — Devised inside the DuPont Corporation in the 1920s and still the standard way to read a return on equity.
Splits return on equity into its three sources, so the same headline number can be traced to very different businesses.
How to read itA 20% ROE built on margin and turnover is a different proposition from a 20% ROE built on 3× leverage. The first survives a downturn; the second amplifies it.
Where it failsA single year. Negative equity makes it meaningless. Leverage is structural for lenders, so the third term carries no signal there.
Capital and revenue are growing at broadly similar rates — the asset base is being used, not just added to.
cumulative operating cash flow ÷ cumulative net profit
₹3,331 cr ÷ ₹5,537 cr, over 12 years
0.60×
Below 1.0 and persistent means profit is being recognised before the cash arrives.(net profit − operating cash flow) ÷ average total assets
(₹370 − ₹71) cr ÷ average assets
2.2%
The share of profit that is accounting entries rather than cash. Above ~10% is where accruals start to dominate.net margin × asset turnover × leverage
2.6% × 0.98 × 2.27
5.8%
Splits ROE into whether returns come from operations or from borrowing.EBIT ÷ finance cost
₹644 cr ÷ ₹87 cr
7.40×
How many times operating profit covers the interest bill.borrowings ÷ net worth
₹992 cr ÷ ₹6,376 cr
0.16×
Read against the sector — infrastructure carries more than software.growth in fixed assets + CWIP, against growth in revenue
capital +77% vs revenue +50%, FY2023 to FY2026
27pp gap
Money going in far faster than revenue coming out. For an incubator this is expected — the test is whether it eventually converts.Needs more balance-sheet detail (only 3 of 6 flags testable).
NOPAT over equity plus debt less cash, at a notional 25% tax. Incremental ROIC is the return on money put in since then — the number that decides whether growth creates value or consumes it.
Return on invested capital, and incremental ROIC — Standard in corporate finance; the incremental form was popularised by Michael Mauboussin as the test of whether growth creates value.
ROIC measures what the business earns on all the capital it employs — equity plus debt, less cash. Incremental ROIC asks a sharper question: what has it earned on the money put in since a chosen year?
How to read itROIC comfortably above the cost of capital — call it 11–13% in India — means growth compounds. Below it, growth consumes. Incremental below headline means recent investment is earning less than the legacy business.
Where it failsDistorted in the year of a large acquisition. Understated for companies mid-build, where capital is deployed but capacity has not yet been commissioned — an incubator will look poor until it does not.
Read downward. Cash can cover EBITDA and still not survive capex — the third rung is where a capital-hungry business shows itself.
The earnings quality ladder — Not a named model — the standard sequence an analyst walks when testing whether reported profit is real.
Three ratios read in order, each stricter than the last.
How to read itRead downward. Each rung failing where the one above passed tells you exactly where the cash is going.
Where it failsA single year of heavy capex depresses the third rung legitimately. Judge it across a cycle.
Against a policy rate near 6%, most sound Indian corporates borrow between 7% and 10%.
Cost of debt — Interest expense over average borrowings — the effective rate the company actually pays.
What the lenders charge, which is a market verdict on credit quality that no rating agency delay affects.
How to read itAgainst a policy rate near 6%, most sound Indian corporates borrow between 7% and 10%. Read the direction over years as much as the level.
Where it failsUnderstated where a large share of interest is capitalised into projects under construction. Not meaningful for lenders, where interest is cost of goods.
Models that need these lines are withheld rather than estimated: net worth, current assets, current liabilities, trade receivables, inventory, net block. Nothing on this page is back-solved from a figure the company did not publish.
Each framework below is a set of stated, mechanical criteria from published work, run against this company's own filed numbers. Passing or failing a screen is not a verdict — different frameworks disagree by design, and that disagreement is itself informative.
Benjamin Graham's stated criteria for a defensive stock, applied to the filed numbers. A company failing several is not disqualified — Graham designed these to be deliberately strict.
Two ratios only: what the business earns on its capital, and what you pay for those earnings. Designed to be ranked across a universe rather than read in isolation.
The fundamental half of William O'Neil's framework. The market and leadership components are judgement calls and are not scored here.
The characteristics long-term holders commonly look for: cash-backed earnings, high returns on capital, and debt that never forces a decision.
Median of the companies we hold in the same sector (Consumer Durables). Every figure on both sides is the live feed's trailing twelve months, so the two are measured the same way whatever depth of extraction this company has had. A number only means something next to something else — expensive against the market and cheap against peers are different facts.
Bars are revenue; the line is net margin. Revenue rising while the line falls is the shape worth noticing.
Operating cash first, then what the business spent and raised.
One year is a snapshot. These are the two lines that matter across a cycle.
Rising debtor or inventory days against flat sales is the earliest visible sign of stress.
Set your own assumptions and watch the numbers move. A scenario calculator — the outputs are the arithmetic of your inputs.
One canonical set of figures — the same numbers used everywhere else on this page and on the screener.
How the register has moved over recent quarters — the direction matters more than the level.
Promoter held steady from 30.30% to 30.30% across these quarters.
FII trimmed from 20.26% to 16.94% across these quarters.
MF trimmed from 16.35% to 15.58% across these quarters.
Other rose from 33.09% to 37.18% across these quarters.
Where cash gets stuck. A rising inventory or debtor line against flat sales is the earliest sign of trouble in the numbers.
| Measure | FY2019 | FY2020 | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debtor days
How long customers take to pay | 92 | 87 | 87 | 97 | 84 | 70 | 53 | 78 |
| Inventory days
How long stock sits before it sells | 76 | 97 | 84 | 103 | 79 | 79 | 83 | 113 |
| Payable days
How long the company takes to pay suppliers | 165 | 177 | 161 | 182 | 149 | 140 | 119 | 172 |
| Cash conversion cycle
Debtor + inventory − payable days | 3 | 7 | 9 | 18 | 14 | 9 | 17 | 19 |
| Working capital days | 41 | 49 | 47 | 38 | 31 | 18 | 43 | 44 |
| ROCE %
Return on capital employed | 17.0% | 18.0% | 15.0% | 13.0% | 10.0% | 9.0% | 18.0% | 9.0% |
| Metric | Q2 FY27 | Q2 FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Stores | 30,000 | — |
| Gross margin | 28.86% | 28.89% |
| Inventory days (days) | 86.41 | — |
From the quarterly results and the earnings call, read by FinMinutes. Latest quarter, read in full.
Read using the Consumer discretionary and retail framework (named in the filing read). Primary valuation lens: P/E against same-store growth.
Read more closely in this sector: Growth from new stores against same stores · Inventory build against sales.
The shape of the business over time (annual) — read the direction, not the single print.
| Line | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue from operations | 7,556 | 7,934 | 9,499 | 12,481 | 15,413 | 14,244 |
| Other income | 189 | 188 | -77 | 253 | 324 | 212 |
| Depreciation | 34 | 37 | 40 | 48 | 62 | 84 |
| Finance cost | 26 | 26 | 30 | 56 | 62 | 87 |
| Profit before tax | 709 | 697 | 307 | 486 | 1,191 | 557 |
| Net profit (owners) | 529 | 506 | 136 | 248 | 834 | 370 |
| EPS (₹) | 15.87 | 15.23 | 4.08 | 7.62 | 25.43 | 11.36 |
Exceptional items, total income and EBITDA are read from the filed statements.
| Metric | Sep 2023 | Dec 2023 | Mar 2024 | Jun 2024 | Sep 2024 | Dec 2024 | Mar 2025 | Jun 2025 | Sep 2025 | Dec 2025 | Mar 2026 | Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 2,293 | 2,626 | 4,203 | 4,921 | 2,619 | 3,105 | 4,768 | 3,939 | 2,347 | 3,071 | 4,888 | 4,674 |
| Other Income | 71 | 58 | 54 | 80 | 105 | 59 | 80 | 82 | 65 | 22 | 43 | 91 |
| Expenses | 2,256 | 2,633 | 4,051 | 4,527 | 2,489 | 2,940 | 4,467 | 3,786 | 2,313 | 2,926 | 4,703 | 4,445 |
| Depreciation | 12 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 18 | 24 | 21 | 21 | 21 |
| Finance cost | 11 | 14 | 21 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 23 | 14 | 20 | 31 | 22 | 13 |
| Profit before tax | 85 | 24 | 174 | 452 | 205 | 191 | 343 | 203 | 54 | 116 | 184 | 285 |
| Net Profit | 36 | -28 | 111 | 335 | 133 | 131 | 236 | 141 | 32 | 84 | 113 | 213 |
| EPS | 1.11 | -0.92 | 3.52 | 10.10 | 4.05 | 3.99 | 7.28 | 4.24 | 1.04 | 2.57 | 3.51 | 6.46 |
| Item | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equity Capital | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 | 33 |
| Reserves | 4,960 | 5,466 | 5,419 | 5,787 | 6,480 | 6,343 |
| Borrowings | 261 | 361 | 651 | 744 | 892 | 992 |
| Net block | 388 | 384 | 525 | 548 | 973 | 1,080 |
| CWIP | 9 | 59 | 98 | 368 | 82 | 22 |
| Investments | 3,046 | 3,615 | 3,109 | 3,508 | 3,243 | 2,762 |
| Total Assets | 8,655 | 9,734 | 10,274 | 11,994 | 13,108 | 14,496 |
| Line | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 | FY2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash from operations | 556 | 584 | 159 | 762 | -225 | 71 |
| Cash from investing | -256 | -365 | -82 | -522 | 158 | 297 |
| Cash from financing | -122 | -107 | 55 | -116 | -100 | -262 |
| Free cash flow | 537 | 537 | -18 | 473 | -416 | -58 |
| Net change in cash | 179 | 113 | 133 | 123 | -166 | 105 |
Cash from operations is the number profit has to answer to. Free cash flow is what remains after the business pays for its own growth.
The part no one reads: the auditor's opinion, the contingent liabilities buried in the notes, the covenants, and the claims in the deck placed beside the figures that test them.
Where analysts pressed management on the earnings call, and exactly how management answered — the questions that were hardest to answer are usually the ones that matter.
These are coverage counts, not ratings. Each one asks a fixed set of questions of the filings and reports how many the company answered. A company that discloses nothing counts nothing here — that is a statement about the disclosure, not about the business.
The same read, applied to the companies this one competes with.
Voltas Ltd. reported revenue of ₹2,707 cr for July to September 2026, +15.3% on the year and −42.1% on the quarter. That is faster than this quarter has grown in recent years (+1.9% on average), so the year-on-year number is not just the season. Over the last four quarters revenue comes to ₹15,339 cr, +8.3% on the four before.
Operating profit (EBITDA) was ₹128 cr, a margin of 4.7%, +172 bps on the year and −96 bps on the quarter. Over the last 8 quarters the margin has ranged from 3.0% to 6.3%, averaging 4.7%. Operating costs grew +13.3% against revenue growth of +15.3%, so more of each rupee of sales reached operating profit.
Net profit was ₹47.7 cr, +51.5% on the year and −77.6% on the quarter, with earnings per share of ₹1.59. The tax rate was 42% against an average of 33% over the previous 8 quarters, which weighed on profit this quarter. Profit over the last four quarters totals ₹457 cr, −15.2% on the four before.
Of the 13 companies in Consumer discretionary and retail that have reported Q2 FY27 so far, Voltas Ltd. ranks 8th on revenue growth; the sector median is +16.4%. Its margin moved +172 bps on the year against a sector median of +285 bps.
Retail growth comes from new stores and from sales at existing stores; the statements show the total, the filing shows how much each contributed.
On earnings per share of ₹14.13 over the last four quarters, the stock at ₹1,031.40 trades at 73.0 times trailing earnings.
Profit with no operating cash behind it. Where did the cash go?
Source: Cash flow statement
Could not run on this quarter: Headline vs core profit, Exceptional items that recur, IPO money used as stated, Related-party transactions, Promoter pledges and allotments, Earlier promises against delivery. The filing did not carry these lines.
Net profit a year ago, each driver's change, and net profit now. Blue added profit, red took it away.
| Balance sheet | Sep '26 | Last year end | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trade receivables | ₹1,717 cr | ₹3,035 cr | ▼ 43.4% |
| Inventory | ₹3,494 cr | ₹3,433 cr | ▲ 1.8% |
| Cash | ₹511 cr | ₹755 cr | ▼ 32.3% |
| Bank balances | ₹17.1 cr | ₹25.8 cr | ▼ 33.6% |
| Long-term borrowings | ₹376 cr | ₹376 cr | 0.0% |
| Short-term borrowings | ₹1,138 cr | ₹591 cr | ▲ 92.6% |
| Trade payables | ₹3,810 cr | ₹5,228 cr | ▼ 27.1% |
| Net block | ₹955 cr | ₹935 cr | ▲ 2.1% |
| Capital work in progress | ₹14.1 cr | ₹22.1 cr | ▼ 36.3% |
| Equity | ₹6,749 cr | ₹6,376 cr | ▲ 5.8% |
| Total assets | ₹13,768 cr | ₹14,510 cr | ▼ 5.1% |
| Cash flow, year to date | This year | Last year |
|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | −₹442 cr | −₹1,075 cr |
| Capital expenditure | −₹67.8 cr | −₹63.7 cr |
| Investing cash flow | −₹122 cr | ₹304 cr |
| Financing cash flow | ₹369 cr | ₹593 cr |
| Dividends paid | −₹132 cr | −₹232 cr |
Operating cash flow was -1.70× profit. Receivables at 42 days of sales (−35 days against the last year end). Inventory at 86 days of sales (−2 days).
No emphasis of matter.
Filing p. consolidated limited review report p.1-2
Court of Cassation (Qatar) upheld judgment directing return of bank guarantees of ₹437.99 crore and settlement payment to Voltas, enabling write-back of ₹63.04 crore in Q2 FY27. (p. consolidated note 2)
Approved transfer of overseas branches at Dubai and Abu Dhabi to step-down subsidiary Universal MEP Contracting L.L.C. on slump sale basis, expected to be consummated by December 31, 2026. (p. consolidated note 3)
Tax: Consolidated tax expense of ₹35.22 crore (current tax ₹43.96 crore, deferred tax credit ₹8.74 crore) on Profit before tax of ₹82.93 crore for Q2 FY27
| Metric | Q2 FY27 | Q2 FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Stores | 30,000 | — |
| Gross margin | 28.86% | 28.89% |
| Inventory days (days) | 86.41 | — |
Worked out from filed numbers. Consolidated Gross Margin: Gross margin = (Revenue ₹2,706.57 crore - COGS ₹1,925.55 crore) / ₹2,706.57 crore * 100 = 28.86% · Inventory Days: Inventory (₹3,494.49 crore) / (Annualised H1 FY27 Revenue ₹7,380.07 crore * 2) * 365 = 86.41 days
Room Air Conditioner business achieved 32% volume growth in Q2 FY27, driving Unitary Cooling Products revenue up 29% YoY to ₹1,566.79 crore through expansion across 30,000+ touch points and market share gains (+1.5% YoY to 17.4% YTD).
Strong RAC volume growth (+32% YoY) and market share gains demonstrate healthy demand and distribution expansion.
Consolidated inventory stood at ₹3,494.49 crore as of September 30, 2026 (vs ₹3,432.85 crore as of March 31, 2026), maintaining inventory days at 86.41 days to support seasonal product availability.
Inventory levels remained controlled (+1.8% increase) while supporting solid top-line revenue execution.
Read using the Consumer discretionary and retail framework (named in the filing read). Primary valuation lens: P/E against same-store growth.
Read more closely in this sector: Growth from new stores against same stores · Inventory build against sales.
| Metric | Guidance | For | Against earlier guidance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transfer of Overseas UAE Branches Slump Sale Consummation Target Date | 2026-12-31 | By December 31, 2026 | unchanged or first given |
Held for next quarter's said-then-did check.
| Segment | Revenue | YoY | Result | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unitary Cooling Products | ₹1,567 cr | ▲ 28.9% | ₹19.7 cr | — |
| Electro - Mechanical Projects and Services | ₹816 cr | ▼ 15.5% | ₹74.8 cr | ▼ 18.8% |
| Engineering Products and Services | ₹185 cr | ▲ 33.3% | ₹52.9 cr | ▲ 20.3% |
| Q3 FY24 | Q4 FY24 | Q1 FY25 | Q2 FY25 | Q3 FY25 | Q4 FY25 | Q1 FY26 | Q2 FY26 | Q3 FY26 | Q4 FY26 | Q1 FY27 | Q2 FY27 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | ₹2,626 cr | ₹4,203 cr | ₹4,921 cr | ₹2,619 cr | ₹3,105 cr | ₹4,768 cr | ₹3,939 cr | ₹2,347 cr | ₹3,071 cr | ₹4,888 cr | ₹4,674 cr | ₹2,707 cr |
| YoY | — | — | +46% | +14% | +18% | +13% | −20% | −10% | −1% | +3% | +19% | +15% |
| EBITDA margin | −0.3% | 3.6% | 8.0% | 5.0% | 5.3% | 6.3% | 3.9% | 3.0% | 4.7% | 3.8% | 5.7% | 4.7% |
| Other income, % of PBT | 242% | 31% | 18% | 51% | 31% | 23% | 40% | 119% | 19% | 23% | 32% | 48% |
| Exceptional items | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tax rate | — | 36% | 26% | 35% | 31% | 31% | 31% | 42% | 27% | 39% | 25% | 42% |
| Net profit | −₹28.0 cr | ₹111 cr | ₹335 cr | ₹133 cr | ₹131 cr | ₹236 cr | ₹141 cr | ₹31.5 cr | ₹84.0 cr | ₹113 cr | ₹213 cr | ₹47.7 cr |
| YoY | — | — | +160% | +269% | — | +113% | −58% | −76% | −36% | −52% | +51% | +51% |
| Core profit YoY | — | — | +180% | +614% | — | +119% | −67% | −110% | −29% | −46% | +61% | — |
| EPS | −₹0.92 | ₹3.52 | ₹10.10 | ₹4.05 | ₹3.99 | ₹7.28 | ₹4.24 | ₹1.03 | ₹2.57 | ₹3.51 | ₹6.46 | ₹1.59 |
| Flags | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ✓ | ✓ | 2 | 2 | 1 | ✓ | ✓ | 1 |
Each quarter is read with the same rules. Balance-sheet and cash checks run on half-year and annual quarters; filing-read checks run where a read exists.