Eternal shares surge 10%, deliver CEO & founder Deepinder Goyal Rs 1,000 cr in 2 mins!

Shares of Eternal Ltd (Zomato) hit their upper circuit limit of 10 per cent in Tuesday's trade, making CEO and founder Deepinder Goyal richer by Rs 1,000 crore within two minutes. Eternal shares were locked at Rs 298.30 on BSE and commanded a market capitalisation of Rs 2,87,869.96 crore. Goyal owned 3.83 per cent stake in Eternal at the end of June quarter. The notional value of his stake in Eternal jumped Rs 1,001 crore to Rs 11,025. crore from Rs 10,024 crore on Monday. Eternal shares had climbed 5.64 per cent in the previous session as well on Q1 surprise.

JM Financial said Eternal once again surprised it positively in Q1 on the Blinkit front.

"This time though, the surprise was more on management commentary than the reported numbers, as it was quite a contrast to the cautious tone post 4QFY25 results," it said.

Remarks, it said, that stood-out were adjusted Ebitda losses in Blinkit have peaked out, not only in margin terms but also on an absolute basis; a move to inventory-led model can expand margins by 100 bps (as % of NOV), and 3) visibility to double dark store count from 1,544 currently to 3,000.

"In terms of reported numbers, Blinkit’s GOV growth of c.140 per cent YoY was ahead of JMFe of c.129 per cent while adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed, albeit it was tad higher than JM expectations. We believe the positives in Blinkit are likely to outweigh the misses in other businesses. We, reiterate Eternal as our preferred pick with an unchanged Jun’26 target of Rs 320 (PER of 75x)," JM said.

CLSA has maintained an ‘Outperform’ rating on Eternal, revising its target price to Rs 385. Jefferies upgraded the stock to ‘Buy’ with a target of Rs 400. Nuvama raised its fair value to Rs 320 from Rs 290, while MOFSL set a target of Rs 330.

MOFSL said Eternal’s food delivery business remains stable, while Blinkit offers a “generational opportunity” to disrupt retail, grocery, and e-commerce. It revised FY26/FY27 earnings estimates lower by 14 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively, factoring in continued dark store expansion and Rs 150 crore in losses from newer initiatives such as Bistro and Nugget under the ‘Others’ segment. Eternal is expected to deliver a PAT margin of 3.1 per cent in FY26 and 6.5 per cent in FY27. The Rs 330 target implies a 21 per cent upside from current levels. MOFSL reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating.

Nirmal Bang expects the food delivery growth trajectory to bottom out in FY26, with recovery in FY27. Valuing Eternal on a sum-of-the-parts (SOTP) basis, it assigns a 42x EV/Ebitda multiple to food delivery and 2x EV/GOV to quick commerce, arriving at a Rs 321 target for FY27.

In Q1, Eternal reported revenue of about Rs 7,200 crore, up 70 per cent YoY and ahead of its projected 62 per cent growth. Blinkit led the performance, with gross order value (GOV) rising 26 per cent QoQ and 140 per cent YoY. Food delivery GOV rose 16 per cent YoY, but overall profit declined 90 per cent YoY.

The company expects food delivery NOV growth to remain between 15–20 per cent in FY26, with a likely acceleration to 20 per cent YoY in FY27. Blinkit’s NOV surged 127 per cent YoY, ahead of estimates. Eternal expects margin gains ahead due to its shift to an inventory-led model and maturing dark stores. Nuvama revised its FY26/FY27 earnings estimates higher by 1.4 per cent and 8.4 per cent, respectively, and maintained a ‘Buy’ rating with a new target of Rs 320.

In Q1FY26, food delivery’s contribution margin fell to 9.9 per cent from 10.3 per cent in Q4FY25. Adjusted Ebitda margin (as a percentage of NOV) also dipped due to delivery partner shortages and weather-related disruptions. Eternal has revised food delivery profitability guidance from 5 per cent of GOV to 5 per cent of NOV, with Q1 delivery profitability at 4.2 per cent of GOV.

Blinkit’s contribution margin slipped to 3.9 per cent, but its adjusted Ebitda margin improved by 60 basis points QoQ to minus 1.8 per cent, supported by tighter marketing spends and operating leverage. The management expects further margin expansion of 1 per cent of NOV as Blinkit completes its transition from a third-party (3P) to a first-party (1P) model.

Eternal plans to expand its dark store count to 2,000 by December 2025 and 3,000 thereafter. "Going-out" adjusted Ebitda loss widened to Rs 54 crore in Q1FY26 from Rs 47 crore in Q4FY25, with ‘Others’ segment losses rising due to investments in Bistro, Nugget, and the Greening India initiative.

Nuvama now values both the food delivery and Blinkit businesses at $16 billion, citing the shift to the 1P model as the key driver behind higher revenue projections.