HLV (HLVLTD)

Score breakdown: P/E: 0/3 · ROCE: 0/2 · Growth: 0/2 · Dividend: 0/1

Key Financials

Strengths

• Low leverage with debt/equity of 0.08, reducing financial risk.
• Price-to-book of 1.30 is moderate; book value of ₹6.74 provides a rough asset floor.
• Latest quarter profit of ₹7 Cr on sales of ₹61 Cr shows potential operating leverage if sustained.
• Promoter holding of 39.07% aligns owner interest, though not controlling-grade.

Concerns

• Very poor capital returns: ROE 0.94% and ROCE 5.61%.
• High valuation: P/E 59.90 and PEG 10.91 relative to weak growth.
• Profit growth is negative at -14.51% and Piotroski F-Score is only 4/9.
• Zero dividend yield means cash returns to shareholders are absent.

AI Analysis

At ₹8.75, HLV is a small-cap hotel business with a market cap of ₹524 Cr. My first question is always: what does this business earn on the capital shareholders have entrusted to it? The answer is discouraging. ROE is just 0.94% and ROCE 5.61% — poor returns for an asset-heavy hotel company. A truly wonderful business earns consistently well above its cost of capital; HLV does not. The trailing P/E of 59.90 and PEG of 10.91 tell me Mr. Market is paying a rich price for very modest growth. Sales growth is only 5.49%, while profit growth is negative at -14.51%. The Piotroski F-Score of 4/9 also points to weak fundamental health, not a company transforming itself. Still, I see a few things worth noting. The balance sheet is conservative: debt-to-equity is just 0.08, so HLV is not burdened by heavy interest costs. Book value is ₹6.74, meaning I am paying only 1.3 times book for physical hotel assets. In a cyclical trough, that is not a huge premium. The latest quarter shows sales of ₹61 Cr and net profit of ₹7 Cr — if that is the new normal, the valuation becomes far more reasonable. But one quarter does not make an investment case. Trailing earnings are only about ₹8.75 Cr, which tells me the quarterly numbers are volatile and possibly influenced by seasonality or one-off factors. This is not a compounder. It is a cyclical, asset-heavy business with weak returns and no dividend. I would need strong evidence of a sustained operating turnaround before putting money here. The absence of a dividend means the shareholder relies entirely on capital appreciation, and at a 59.9 P/E, the market is asking for perfection.

Data from BSE/NSE filings. AI analysis is for educational purposes only — not investment advice. Scoring methodology · Disclaimer