Finolex Cables stock can be a multi-bagger as the worst is over

Finolex Cables, the leading player in the power and communications cable market, has always been a trusted name with high brand recall. Its Finolex brand has got the ‘ super brand’ status. The company has always had an edge over its peers and enjoyed better margins due to its premium pricing ability (3-4% more compared with its peers) and captive raw material sourcing.

It also has the ability to generate free cash flow of over Rs 100 crore annually. To leverage its brand, Finolex Cables has entered the high-margin consumer product segment (CFL lamps, low-voltage switch gears) and is expected to improve its revenues and margin in the coming years. It has already beefed up its retail distribution network for this purpose.

Therefore, the EBITDA margin is expected to move up from 7% in 2011-12 to 11% in 2014-15. The brown field expansion at Roorkee (the capacity has now been doubled and the new capacity is expected to be operational in 2014-15) will help the company to expand in the north and eastern parts of India. In addition to the expected economic recovery, the incremental capacity usage from the Roorkee plant should help Finolex Cables report double-digit growth in the electrical cable business — its main source of revenue — in the coming years.


According to the consensus estimate, its net profit is expected to grow by around 20% annually over the next two years. However, the Finolex Cables counter used to be under pressure in the stock market due to the concerns emanating from high forex loans.

Exposure to the derivatives market and the need to book forex-related losses made its past net profits highly volatile. The company was forced to report a cumulative loss of Rs 300 crore between 2008-9 and 2012-13.

With the closure of derivative exposure positions and scaling down of debt (debtto-equity ratio has come down to 0.2 times in 2012-13), a major overhang is out of the way for the counter. That explains the sudden surge in the counter (see relative performance chart for more details).

With the worst already behind it, the market will start focussing on the company increasing its revenue and earnings growth, and improving margins. This would mean that the valuation multiples should improve further in the coming years for this counter.

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