With today’s gain, the stock has rallied 40% in just four trading sessions.
Eight analysts currently cover Just Dial. Of these, seven recommend ‘Buy’, while one has a ‘Sell’ rating. ICICI Direct has the highest target price on the Street at ₹1,250, implying further upside of % from current levels.
The company reported Q1FY27 revenue of ₹327 crore, up 9.9% year-on-year and 6.6% sequentially, marking its fastest annual revenue growth in eight quarters.
Collections, a key leading indicator for the business, grew 13.7% YoY, rebounding sharply from the nearly flat growth reported in the previous quarter.
Profitability, however, remained under pressure. EBITDA margin stood at 26.7%, declining 221 basis points sequentially and around 230 basis points year-on-year, as employee expenses rose 11% and other operating expenses increased nearly 28% amid investments in expanding the company’s sales force.
The company also announced a major leadership transition.
Founder VSS Mani, who has led Just Dial for over three decades, will step down as Managing Director and CEO on July 31.
He will be succeeded by Dinkar Ayilavarapu, who previously headed Flipkart Wholesale, the company’s B2B business. Ayilavarapu has over two decades of experience across digital commerce, retail and technology, including earlier stints at Bain & Company.
On the finance side, Dinesh Taluja, formerly the Chief Financial Officer of Reliance Retail, has been appointed as the new CFO. He brings more than 20 years of experience spanning investment banking, private equity, management consulting and corporate finance.
A key focus for investors is the company’s sizeable cash balance. Just Dial ended the quarter with nearly ₹6,022 crore of cash and investments, exceeding its market capitalisation of about ₹5,600 crore.
Brokerages Kotak Institutional Equities and Citi said the key trigger going forward will be how the new management deploys this cash, whether through dividends, share buybacks or investments to accelerate the company’s B2B strategy.
Kotak retained its ‘Buy’ rating with a fair value of ₹1,100 per share, while Citi also maintained its ‘Buy’ recommendation and raised its target price to ₹930 from ₹900.
Kotak said the company’s revenue growth was driven by 6.2% growth in realisations and 3.5% growth in paid campaigns. While the brokerage raised its FY27-FY29 revenue estimates by 2-3%, it trimmed EPS forecasts by 1-2% to account for lower margin assumptions.
The brokerage also highlighted that the company’s ₹6,000 crore cash balance provides meaningful downside protection and said the stock continues to trade at an attractive valuation on an ex-cash basis.
