The brokerage firm slashed Naukri.com’s parent company’s PT to INR 7,800 from INR 8,750 earlier
Explaining its rationale for the revision in PT, JM Financial highlighted the recent correction in the stock price of Info Edge’s investee companies Zomato and PB Fintech
It also gave a moderate billing growth forecast for Info Edge’s bread-and-better recruitment segment (Naukri) for FY26 and FY27 of 14.5% as against 18% earlier
A day after Sanjeev Bikhchandani-led Info Edge
shared a robust uptick across its business verticals in Q4 FY25, brokerage firm JM Financial slashed the Naukri.com’s parent company’s price target (PT) to INR 7,800 from INR 8,750 earlier.
However, the brokerage reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating. The new PT represents a near 17% upside compared to the company’s close of INR 6,639.65 on the BSE yesterday.
JM Financial sees Info Edge’s shares move in a range of INR 5,250 to INR 9,195 in the next 52 weeks. This is pretty much in line with Info Edge’s current 52-week high and low of INR 9,194.95 and INR 5,260, respectively.
Explaining its rationale for the revision in PT, JM Financial highlighted the recent correction in the stock price of Info Edge’s investee companies Zomato and PB Fintech.
Further, the brokerage gave a moderate billing growth forecast for Info Edge’s bread-and-better recruitment segment (Naukri) for FY26 and FY27 of 14.5% as against 18% earlier on account of growing uncertainty around IT hiring demand.
However, the correction in this segment is expected to be offset by improving trends in the company’s other business verticals – 99acres and Jeevansathi.
The company’s management earlier said that the real estate business and matrimonial segment are expected to hit breakeven over the next 12 months.
Further, the brokerage noted that the tech company’s growth in the past few quarters was broad based across its IT and non-IT services.
“We note that Q4 is seasonally a very strong quarter for the recruitment business, leading us to believe that the trend improvement was led by a mix of strong renewal demand and unique client additions,” the note said.
How The Tech Company Fared In Q4
In an update for its business for the March quarter, Info Edge reported a 19% year on year (YoY) uptick in its standalone billings to INR 983.8 Cr in Q4.
For the fiscal year FY25, Info Edge’s standalone billings grew about 16% YoY to INR 2,881.7 Cr.
The company noted an improvement in billing trends across its business segments. While recruitment solutions’ standalone billings grew 18% YoY to INR 740.3 Cr in Q4, 99acres reported a 22% YoY uptick in its business to INR 159.8 Cr in the quarter. Other business segment, which included Jeevansaathi and Shiksha.com, also saw a 19% YoY uptick in business to INR 83.7 Cr.
“The management has in the past indicated plans to achieve breakeven in 99acres and Jeevansathi over the next 12 months, giving us the comfort that we may see strong operating leverage in the near term. Both these factors lead to a marginal increase in our standalone FY25-27 EBITDA margin forecasts,” JM Financial added.
Info Edge CFO Chintan Thakkar said in September that Jeevansathi and 99acres are expected to attain breakeven at the end of FY25. In an interview with CNBC TV-18, he said that while the company was looking to cut down on the cash burn for 99acres, it was looking to super charge growth for Jeevansathi.
Last month, the company infused INR 30 Cr in dating app Aisle via Jeevansathi.
Info Edge’s Journey On The Bourses In 2025
In line with the broader market volatility, Info Edge’s 2025 ride on the exchanges has been bumpy. The company’s shares have plunged about 27% year to date and ended today’s trading session at INR 6,409.
While the company’s upbeat forecast for its upcoming financial disclosures led to a near 5% uptick in its share prices yesterday, the stock fell 3.52% today.
Info Edge, which was one of the earliest tech companies to make its stock market debut in India in 2006, has been an active investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. While its portfolio companies Zomato and PB Fintech are already listed on the exchanges, another portfolio company NoPaperForms is suiting up for an IPO soon.
Info Edge also counts tech startups like Agstack, Bizcrum, Terralytics, Sploot, among others, in its portfolio.
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