1. At a Glance
Dr Agarwals Health Care Ltd is that overachieving topper in the hospital sector who not only sits in the first bench but also corrects the teacher’s spelling. With a market cap of ₹14,272 Cr, current price ₹450, and a P/E of 112, the market is clearly pricing perfection — maybe even LASIK-level clarity.
In Q3 FY26, revenue clocked ₹530 Cr, up 23% YoY, while PAT jumped 51% YoY to ₹33.7 Cr. Operating margins stayed rock-solid at ~27%, which in hospital land is not normal, it’s elite. Over the last 3 months the stock is down ~11.6%, so clearly Mr Market blinked for a second.
But here’s the twist: despite scale, dominance, and margins, ROE is just 4.76%. Yes, you read that right. India’s largest eye-care chain is profitable, growing fast, and yet returns look like a sleepy PSU bank.
So the obvious question: Is this a compounding healthcare machine temporarily misunderstood, or a great business permanently overvalued? Let’s scrub in.
2. Introduction
Eye care is one of those rare healthcare segments where demand doesn’t need marketing. You age → eyesight goes bad → you show up. No discounts. No seasonality. No Instagram ads. Just biology doing its thing.
Dr Agarwals Health Care Ltd entered this space in 2010 and decided not to be just another clinic with a slit lamp and a receptionist. Instead, it built India’s largest organized eye-care chain, commanding ~25% market share, and more than 2x the revenue of the second-largest player. That’s not competition; that’s dominance.
What makes this story spicy is not just scale, but how they scale. This is not Apollo Hospitals with ₹500 Cr hospitals and ICU-heavy infra. This is a hub-and-spoke ophthalmology machine — high volume, repeatable procedures, asset-light expansion, and ruthless standardization.
Cataracts, refractive surgeries, diagnostics, optics — boring individually, deadly powerful together. Add Africa expansion, mergers within promoter entities, and an IPO war chest, and suddenly this isn’t just an eye hospital — it’s a healthcare platform.
But then
you see the valuation. And the ROE. And the debt. And you pause mid-surgery. Let’s go deeper.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Imagine explaining Dr Agarwals to a lazy but smart investor over chai.
They fix eyes. At scale. Very efficiently.
The company runs three types of facilities:
a) Primary Facilities
These are outpatient clinics. Consultations, diagnostics, basic treatment, optics counters, and tele-consults. Think of these as lead generators. Low capex, high footfall, embedded pharmacy + eyewear sales.
b) Secondary Facilities
Now we move into surgical territory. Cataract surgeries, clinical investigations, and minor procedures. These are the cash cows — high volume, standardized, predictable outcomes.
c) Tertiary Facilities & COEs
This is where complex stuff happens — retinal surgeries, corneal transplants, advanced refractive work. Also training, research, and brand credibility.
The genius lies in resource sharing. Doctors rotate. Equipment is centralized. Patients are funnelled from primary → secondary → tertiary like a well-designed metro map.
Most facilities are leased, so expansion doesn’t require burning shareholder capital like a bonfire. Result? Fast rollout, controlled capex, and operating leverage kicking in once facilities mature.
If hospitals were factories, this would be a Toyota production line, not a hand-crafted Ferrari.
4. Financials Overview
Quarterly Performance Snapshot (Q3 FY26 vs YoY & QoQ)
| Metric | Latest Qtr | YoY Qtr | Prev Qtr | YoY % | QoQ % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (₹ Cr) | 530 | 431 | 499 | 23.0% | 6.2% |
| EBITDA (₹ Cr) | 144 | 115 | 136 | 25.2% | 5.9% |
| PAT (₹ Cr) | 44 | 28 | 36 | 51.0% | 22.2% |
| EPS (₹) | 1.07 | 0.72 | 0.94 | 48.6% | 13.8% |
Annualised EPS (Q3
