ACME Solar Holdings shares are in focus on plans to diversify into nuclear energy and a thumping vote of confidence from analysts. Nuvama Institutional Equities initiated coverage on the stock with a ‘Buy’ rating and a target price of Rs 328 per share. This implies almost 70% upside from current levels. The stock closed around Rs 193/share on February 28 .
Nuvama on ACME Solar Holdings: Powering ahead
The company is an integrated (in-house EPC + O&M) play wired into India’s high-voltage renewable energy (RE) capex. “Our analysis shows that even with 5% power demand growth (versus 7% in FY24), India may face power deficits by FY30–32E despite adding 30–50GW RE/year. RE tenders have shifted to FDRE (solar + wind + BESS) for RTC supply (better IRR/PPA), wherein ACME has a higher mix, charging up its growth,” said Nuvama.
ACME Solar plans to invest Rs 17,000 crore as capital expenditure to boost renewable energy capacity to 5 gigawatts by 2026. “We intend to focus our new capacities on the revenue and margin accretive Hybrid and FDRE renewable energy projects as a critical pivot in our business strategy,” Nikhil Dhingra, CEO of the company.
Nuvama on ACME Solar Holdings: Portfolio to scale up to 7GW by FY28E
ACME plans to quintuple its capacity from 1.3GW in FY24 to 7GW by FY28E (2.5GW operational and 4.5GW UC with PPAs signed for 53%). According to Nuvama, the “adjusted EBITDA CAGR at 70% will outpace capacity CAGR of 51% over FY24–28E. This is after factoring in the growing mix of higher-IRR FDRE/hybrid from 0% in FY24 to 49% by FY28E. Blended tariffs for operational capacity are at “3.5/kwh with 86% of the portfolio contracted with central off-takers, indicating strong operational efficiency,” Nuvama added.
ACME Solar Holdings to diversify into nuclear energy
Plus, the company plans to diversify into nuclear energy. The company currently possesses 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity and is planning to expand this to 3.5 GW by the end of 2026 and 7 GW by 2027, ultimately reaching its goal of 10 GW of contracted capacity by 2030, its chief executive officer Nikhil Dhingra said. The company has planned an investment of up to Rs 17,000 crore in the first phase to add 3.5 GW of capacity.
ACME Solar Holdings’ performance in Q3
The company net profit jumped 155% year-on-year to Rs 112 crore in the third quarter of FY25. It posted a net profit of Rs 44 crore in the same period a year ago. Its revenue from operations advanced 5% YoY to Rs 349 crore in Q3 FY25 as against Rs 332 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
ACME Solar Vs Nifty 50
The share price of ACME Solar has risen 0.26% in the past five days. The stock has fallen 6.6% in the previous one month. It has wiped out almost 24% since the day of listing.
To compare, the benchmark index, Nifty 50 has fallen over 2% in the last five trading sessions. The index has fallen 5.3% in the last one month and 12.5% in the previous six months. It has erased all gains of the last one year.