Pharmaceutical shares today
Shares of pharmaceutical companies were in demand with the Nifty Pharma index hitting a new 52-week high at 24,033.45, gaining 2 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Wednesday’s intra-day trade.
At 11:43 AM; Nifty Pharma index was up 1.92 per cent, as compared to 0.22 per cent rise in the Nifty 50. The pharma index was quoting higher for the fifth straight trading day, and has surged 3.8 per cent, as against 0.37 per cent gain in the benchmark index in this period.
Among individual stocks, Wockhardt zoomed 15 per cent to ₹1,765 amid heavy volumes. In the past two trading days, the stock has rallied 23 per cent. The average trading volumes at the counter jumped over 10-fold with a combined 15.15 million shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE.
Shares of Ajanta Pharma soared 7 per cent, while Biocon, Alkem Laboratories, Piramal Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma and Lupin were up 4 per cent each. Zdyus Life Sciences, Laurus Labs, Cipla, Dr Reddys Laboratories and JB Chemicals and Pharmaceutical were up in the range of 2 per cent to 3 per cent.
Of these, Lupin, Laurus Labs, Granules India and Sai Life Sciences hit their respective new highs in intra-day trade. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Aurobindo Pharma and Natco Pharma were among notable stocks to hit respective 52-week highs.
Why has Nifty Pharma index outperformed market?
Pharmaceutical companies, which so far, announced their March 2026 quarter (Q4FY26) results have recorded healthy earnings.
Wockhardt reported revenue growth of 30 per cent compared to previous year. The company recorded 147 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) at ₹196 crore compared to ₹79 crore in the previous year.
The overall Biotech operations for the quarter stood at ₹252 crore recording a growth of 126 per cent vs Q4FY25. This robust achievement is fuelled by the company’s Emerging Market biotech segment growing at >34 per cent on FY25 with accelerated business opportunities and strategic business partnerships, new deal acquisitions from key markets like Thailand, Egypt, Algeria and LATAM. India’s Biotech operations continue to grow at double digit pace and is poised for decent growth in the future, the management said.
Looking ahead, the upcoming launch of Insulin analogs over the next few years represents a significant business opportunity, further strengthening the company’s commitment to meeting global diabetes healthcare needs and advancing leadership in diabetes care, it added.
Ajanta Pharma’s branded businesses in India were driven by new launches and market share gains in existing products. The US also maintained the strong growth tempo on account of new products launched in the last 15 months and traction in seasonal Flu product. Asia business was impacted due to supply chain disruptions, according to ICICI Securities.
Strong GPM performance was attributable to strong branded business growth (68 per cent of sales); the management has maintained the GPM margin guidance of 77 per cent and EBITDA margin of 27 per cent for FY27. Besides this the management is guiding for growth of high teen for FY27 based on segmental bifurcations, which bodes well as Ajanta continues to generate strong free cash flows on account of strong margins, the brokerage firm said in a note.
Meanwhile, analysts at BNP Paribas India estimate Sun Pharma’s global speciality revenue to ramp-up supported by the launch of Leqselvi and Unloxcyt and the scale-up of its existing portfolio. Hence, the brokerage firm expects the sales mix to improve – it estimates the combined revenue contribution from speciality products and domestic formulations to reach 52 per cent in FY27 (from 50 per cent in FY25), which should drive EBITDA margin improvement.
For Lupin, the recent revenue growth in the US business is supported by only a few products which analysts at BNP Paribas India expect to witness more competition in FY27/28. The brokerage firm thinks a large part of Lupin’s FY26E earnings would be supported by the launch of Tolvaptan. Also, it expects Lupin’s domestic-market revenue growth to lag IPM growth as analysts view its strategy of targeting new therapy markets via a new dedicated sales force as quite difficult because Lupin will compete with well-entrenched market leaders in these markets. ===================================================== Disclaimer: View and outlook shared on the stock belong to the respective brokerages and are not endorsed by Business Standard. Readers discretion is advised.