‘Kalki 2898 AD’ is not enough — PVR Inox gets a price target cut and may remain rangebound

UBS maintained a ‘Buy’ rating on the PVR Inox stock but slashed its price target to ₹1,800 per share from ₹2,075 apiece earlier. The new target suggests a upside of 20% from the stock’s closing levels on Monday.

The foreign brokerage projected a likely difficult first half of the financial year 2025, citing the science fiction film ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ alone isn’t enough to help the company deliver positive EBITDA in the first quarter of this fiscal.

The ₹600-crore movie was released on 27 June in six languages including Hindi, English and four southern languages.

About two-third of PVR Inox’s collections are made in regional language, where the company has a low presence.

UBS in a note mentioned that a lot of hopes now underpin on the second half of fiscal 2025.

Additionally, the brokerage also sees reluctance among consumers to watch movies in a theatre.

Elara Securities in a recent note said that the film may not do strong box office in the Hindi language due to poor advance bookings. PVR Inox has 45% market share in the Hindi genre, wherein ‘Kalki’ is set to report a muted lifetime box office of a mere ₹70-80 crore, it said.

PVR Inox has a mere 8-10% market share in the regional markets (regional movies).

PVR Inox shares were up 6% in Monday’s trade on hopes footfalls would pick up for the multiplex chain. On Tuesday, the stock was trading 1.69% lower at ₹1,472.50 apiece on the NSE.

The stock has tumbled 12% so far this year while it has risen nearly 7% over the last 12 months.