Analysts have raised concerns about the Lenskart stock listing, describing it as ‘investor unfriendly’ due to the issuance of only three-month warrants without a cash component in employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). Retail investors who bid at the upper limit of ₹402 were disappointed with the stock’s performance during the listing session. Priced at ₹402, the issue represented a 24% premium over the initial share price band of ₹325-₹357. In August, the company made its equity available to investors through a public offering.
The Lenskart update on NSE and BSE set the share price between ₹325-₹357, amounting to a total offering of ₹2,778 crore, while existing shareholders provided a 24% stake in the offer for sale (OFS) worth ₹1,500 crore, as reported by ET. The Lenskart IPO was priced at ₹325-₹357 on October 27, with a valuation exceeding ₹49,000 crore. As of October 24, the company reported profits of ₹6,066 crore for the fiscal year 2021 and ₹5,249 crore for 2020, with profits rising to ₹7,463 crore in the first half of fiscal year 2022, according to a Moneycontrol report. Besides its e-commerce platform, Lenskart operates over 1,000 physical stores across 500 cities in India.
Experts note that Lenskart has shown strong growth across financial and operational metrics while expanding steadily within the rapidly evolving Indian eyewear market. However, at the upper range of ₹402, the valuation reflects FY25 EV/Sales and EV/EBITDA multiples of 10.1x and 68.7x, respectively, which SBI Securities considers to be a premium, as per their analysis shared with Moneycontrol.
