HFCL is making a strong case to be the standout stock of 2026. Shares of the telecom infrastructure company surged 8.68% to hit a fresh 52-week high of ₹161.90 on Monday, May 25, taking the stock’s year-to-date gain to 133.71% and its one-month return to nearly 51%. The stock opened at ₹158.90, with a day’s low of ₹155, reflecting sustained buying interest even at elevated levels.
The numbers are hard to ignore: from a 52-week low of ₹59.82 in January 2026, HFCL has more than doubled in the span of a few months — a run that has pushed its market capitalisation to approximately ₹24,640 crore.
Q4 results sparked the initial fire
The rally’s sharpest leg began after HFCL’s Q4 FY26 results, reported on April 30. The turnaround in quarterly numbers was stark. Net profit came in at ₹178.5 crore against a loss of ₹81.4 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue surged to ₹1,824 crore from ₹800.7 crore — a jump of 127.81% year-on-year. EBITDA swung to ₹315 crore from an EBITDA loss of ₹36 crore in Q4 FY25.
For the full year FY26, HFCL’s consolidated profit jumped over 90% to ₹329.44 crore from ₹173.26 crore in FY25, while annual revenue rose roughly 22% to ₹4,949.27 crore.
Order book nearly tripled — and defence is the new growth engine
The earnings print was only part of the story. HFCL’s total order book reached ₹21,206 crore as of FY26, nearly tripling from ₹7,685 crore in FY24, with ₹14,586 crore in networks, ₹3,508 crore in products, and ₹3,112 crore in operations and maintenance.
The company has secured ₹2,230 crore of order visibility in the defence sector, including a ₹1,930 crore export order book through a proposed aerospace business acquisition. HFCL also received 1,000 acres of land in Andhra Pradesh for a defence manufacturing facility, with a groundbreaking ceremony held on May 15, 2026.
The company’s international expansion includes two separate export orders worth approximately $11.43 million and $7.89 million respectively for optical fibre cable supplies, scheduled for execution by August 2026.
Data centres add another revenue lever
HFCL said it is substantially expanding manufacturing capacities for data centre interconnect solutions through subsidiary HTL Limited, projecting this segment to contribute approximately ₹400 crore in additional revenue in FY27 and around ₹800 crore in FY28.
The company is also targeting a product-led revenue model, aiming for 70%+ of revenue from products by FY27, up from around 27% in FY21. Private sector revenue has already grown to approximately 84% of the mix by FY26, improving both stability and margins.
Management has guided for 20–25% revenue growth in FY27, with EBITDA margins expected to expand by 3–4 percentage points — a combination that the market is clearly pricing in ahead of delivery.
The valuation question
The rally has pushed HFCL’s P/E ratio to 75.62 — elevated for a company still in the middle of a structural transformation and yet to prove sustained margin expansion at scale. With no dividend declared and the stock trading at a 52-week high, the risk of a sharp pullback on any earnings miss or order delay is non-trivial.
Whether HFCL earns the “stock of the year” title will depend less on where the share price is today and more on whether its defence manufacturing ramp-up, data centre order flows, and margin expansion guidance translate into actual numbers over the next two quarters.