17 Mar , 2026 By : Debdeep Gupta
Shares of Eternal Ltd, the parent of Zomato and Blinkit, emerged as top market gainer on March 17 amid value buying and a brokerage seeing up to 80% upside in the next 12 months. Eternal shares fell 40% from their recent highs and investors saw value in the stock again as it climbed over 4% on March 17.
At 11 am on March 17, Eternal shares on BSE were trading 4.4% higher at Rs 231.75 apiece.
"While the initial leg of correction could be attributed to investor concerns around leadership changes and high competitive intensity in QC, the recent news flow about new competition in FD and global macros (AI and Middle East conflict) has made it worse. To be sure, global events are hard to predict, but we strongly believe Eternal – particularly its Blinkit business – shall emerge stronger once macro normalise," said JM Financial in a note.
Meanwhile, Kotak Securities said LPG supply disruptions have hit restaurants, thus potentially lowering food delivery volumes but added that delivery costs have been stable for now. Swiggy faces more impact than Eternal amid significant supply challenges, it said.
On March 17, Swiggy shares were trading over 2% higher at Rs 291.25 apiece.
"In 4QFY26E, Blinkit’s NOV (net order value) is likely to expand by low double-digit QoQ despite high competitive pressures (though slower than 14% in 3Q) supported by mid-teens’ order volume growth. We also expect a decent uptick in its adjusted EBITDA margin to 0.4% of NOV versus breakeven in 3QFY26. In Zomato, concerns around supply-side disruptions linked to gas availability issues might be overstated as long as there is no mass-scale shutdown (a la covid) given customers can easily shift to operational restaurants. We, therefore, maintain the NOV growth forecast of 18% YoY for Zomato in 4QFY26E (highest in last seven quarters); even if 25% of orders are disrupted in the final weeks of the quarter, NOV can still grow 15% YoY," said JM Financial.
The brokerage said investors with 12-18 month horizon should "aggressively accumulate" at current levels.
"Moreover, the impact of new competition in FD is overstated in our opinion. Investors with 12–18 months’ horizon should aggressively accumulate Eternal at these levels in our view as the stock is attractively priced at 35x Mar’28E PER. While we are cutting target NTM PE to 65x (from 75x) factoring in global macros and competitive risks, our TP is unchanged at Rs 400 on a rollover to Mar'27E," said JM Financial.
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