PEG Screen: Profit Outpaces P/E in Energy, Chemicals, Steel

The Chennai Petroleum refinery at Manali has been processing crude since 1969. It does not attract the same retail chatter as electric vehicle or AI plays. That is why it now appears on a FairStock PEG screen. [Chennai Petroleum (NSE: CHENNPETRO)](/stock/CHENNPETRO) trades near 8.5 times trailing earnings. Profit after tax has climbed from a loss in FY22 to about ₹2,700 crore in FY24. FairStock data put the PEG near 0.45. When profit growth outruns the P/E multiple, the market is telling you it does not believe the recovery. Sometimes the market is wrong. That is the idea behind FairStock's latest PEG screen. It paired profit growth with moderate earnings multiples across Indian energy, chemicals and steel names. Eight stocks showed PEG ratios below 1: Chennai Petroleum, Fedders Holding, ACME Solar, Ventive, Akzo Nobel India, Piramal Finance, Tata Steel and Waaree Energies. Sales growth was mixed. This is not a clean revenue story. It is a valuation story, and the earnings recovery is already on the books. PEG Screen Flags Cheap Earnings Growth in Energy and Steel The energy names show the largest gap between profit growth and the P/E. [Waaree Energies (NSE: WAAREEENER)](/stock/WAAREEENER) has doubled net profit in the first half of FY25, helped by module shipments and domestic solar orders. The stock trades around 28 times trailing earnings. That looks expensive until you compare it with profit growth near 140%. FairStock's data puts the PEG at roughly 0.6. [Acme Solar (NSE: ACMESOLAR)](/stock/ACMESOLAR) lands on the list for a similar reason. Long-term power purchase agreements support cash flows, but sales growth is lumpy as new projects get commissioned. Chennai Petroleum fits the old-economy value pocket. The Manali refinery has grown from 2.5 million tonnes per year to about 10.5 million tonnes. The stock's P/E is below 9. Profit has swung hard with refining margins. That creates a PEG below 0.5, but the denominator is cyclical, so the ratio can break quic...