Lenskart’s Rs 7,278 crore IPO, comprising a Rs 600 crore fresh issue and a Rs 6,678 crore offer for sale, was subscribed a decent 28 times overall, drawing bids worth nearly Rs 1 lakh crore. The strong response was driven by institutional investors, with the QIB portion subscribed 45 times, while retail and HNI categories were also fully booked.
However, the Street has grown cautious over valuation concerns, a factor that may now be weighing on sentiment. At the upper end of the price band of Rs 402 per share, the IPO valued Lenskart at a steep FY25 EV/EBITDA multiple of over 50x, far higher than established listed peers in the consumer and retail space.
Adding to the pressure, brokerage Ambit Capital initiated coverage with a “Sell” rating just before the listing, citing stretched valuations and modest return ratios.
“We expect Lenskart to deliver 20% revenue CAGR over FY25–28 led by India expansion and rising global scale. However, at 55x FY28 EV/EBITDA, the stock trades at a 15–30% premium to Trent and Nykaa despite a lower RoCE of 9% versus peers’ 35–40%,” Ambit said. It set a target price of Rs 337, indicating a downside of about 16% from the issue price.
While the company has delivered strong topline growth, revenues rose 32.5% to Rs 6,653 crore in FY25, a chunk of its Rs 297 crore FY25 profit came from a one-time gain of Rs 167 crore linked to the Owndays acquisition. Adjusted for this, the normalized profit drops to Rs 130 crore, translating to a net margin of just 1.96%.Analysts say that while Lenskart’s long-term story remains compelling, driven by its leadership in India’s underpenetrated eyewear market and omnichannel strategy, the stock’s short-term outlook looks muted.
If the stock lists flat, it would reflect a cooling of sentiment that had pushed grey market trades to frothy levels earlier. Long-term investors, however, may still look to hold, given the company’s structural growth potential in India’s expanding eyewear and optical retail market.