Private defence company stock soars 12% today; zooms 76% from March low

Business Standard

15-05-2025

Share price of Astra Microwave Products today: Share price of Astra Microwave Products (Astra) soared 12 per cent to ₹1,030.10 on the BSE in Thursday's intra-day trade in an otherwise subdued market. The stock of the private aerospace & defence company hit an 11-month high. It is inching towards its record high level of ₹1,059.75 touched on June 18, 2024. In comparison, the BSE Sensex was down 0.3 per cent at 81,093 at 11:22 am.
In the past one week, Astra has outperformed the market by surging 24 per cent, as compared to 2 per cent rise in the BSE Sensex. The stock has recovered 76 per cent from its 52-week low of ₹584.20 hit on March 3, 2025.
Orderbook update & Outlook
As on December 31, 2024, Astra's order book stood at ₹1,960.2 crores, which is executable in the next 12 to 36 months' period.
The country is witnessing a rapid import substitution, increased domestic production, and growing exports, leading to an inflow of higher indigenous orders to defence public sector undertakings (PSUs). Private players like Astra may also benefit from the flow down of these orders. With the focus on increasing participation in indigenisation orders, the company said its consolidated order book stood at ₹2,332 crore as of December 2024.
The defence industry is advancing steadily towards self-reliance driven by government policies, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) innovations and global collaborations. The country is witnessing a rapid import substitution, increased domestic production and growing exports. This push towards indigenisation is expected to boost the earnings of both public and private defense companies as many defense PSUs are witnessing good order inflows with higher indigenous percentages, Astra said in Q3FY25 earnings conference call.
Meanwhile, analysts believe that the order pipeline remains strong for Astra in both the domestic and export markets, considering the substantial opportunity in defence and space sectors. Management sees total orders opportunity worth ₹24,000-25,000 crore for the company over FY25-28E, primarily in defence and space electronics. Margins and profitability is expected to improve further led by execution of higher-margin domestic contracts.
The company has moved up in the value chain from manufacturing subsystems/ components to development & manufacturing of various high-end, high-value systems. The Company continues to explore new opportunities and strengthen its overall capabilities through in-house development and strategic collaborations with other key players.
With critical systems like microwave and radio frequency application-based equipments like Gallium Nitride (GaN) Transmit/Receive Modules (TRMs), NavIC (Navigation with Indian Constellation) chips and other key radars & EW systems, etc., analysts at ICICI Securities, believe that the company continues to improve its product mix significantly.
About Astra Microwave Products
Astra Microwave Products' (Astra) is engaged in the design, development and manufacture of sub-systems for Radio Frequency and microwave systems, primarily used in defence, space & meteorology. The company's product range includes radars, missile electronics, electronic warfare, satellites, MMIC (Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit) and communication systems
Astra has 3 Automatic assembly lines for PCB Assembly, 7 Class 10K cleanrooms and 1 Class 100K clear room. The RF & Microwave Test Instruments & infrastructure extends from 30MHz up to 40GHz.
In-house Environment test facilities including EMI/ EMC facility and a first for any Indian Private Industry-Near Field Antenna test and measurement range. Starting with a diverse range of microwave products like filters, transmitters, receivers, antennas, etc., the company has produced, developed & supplied space-borne hardware that has flown on Indian satellites. In addition, Astra has moved up the value chain and has supplied multiple Systems to various end users in Defence, Aerospace & Metrology segment.