Polycab dethrones Havells as the most valuable wires & cables stock in India: CNBC-TV18 Edge

Shares of Polycab India are up another 4% on Monday and are trading at a record high. The move seen by the stock in 2023 has made the stock the most valuable wires and cables company in India, dethroning Havells India.

With today's surge, Polycab's market capitalisation is nearing the mark of ₹85,000 crore, surpassing Havells, which is at ₹84,200 crore.

Having listed in 2019, shares of Polycab are up 120% so far in 2023. However, this is not the best annual performance for the stock since it had gained nearly 140% in 2021 as well. Polycab has also delivered positive annual returns every year since listing.

In comparison, shares of Havells have gained only in three out of the last five years. They have also underperformed Polycab in 2023, gaining only 22% so far this year.

Some of the key reasons behind Polycab's re-rating is the industry tailwind, where cables are seeing good demand from the local and global markets.

Polycab also has a better product mix compared to Havells, as a greater proportion of its revenue comes from the cables business, compared to Havells.

The management of Polycab has also been proactive in adding capacity to cater to the growing demand. Inder T Jaisinghani of Polycab, in an interaction with CNBC-TV18 on October 19 had mentioned that the company is planning to increase capacity by an additional 25% to 30% and that the current industry capacity will suffice for the next two years.

Polycab is also confident of reaching ₹20,000 crore in revenue by financial year 2026.

On the flip side, Havells' much publicised acquisition of Lloyd is taking longer than expected to turnaround.

Consumer discretionary spends have also been lower than expected. The company's lighting business is also sluggish as LED prices have been under pressure.

For the September quarter, Havells reported a 33.2% jump in its net profit to ₹249.1 crore. However, that was lower than the CNBC-TV18 poll of ₹289 crore.

On the valuation front, despite the surge, Polycab's shares are trading at 43 times financial year 2025 earnings, while those of Havells, despite the underperformance, are trading at 49 times.