Cohance Life Sciences has been one of the most talked-about market stories in the past few weeks, having surged as much as 33% since April 24, riding a wave of optimism around the appointment of Umang Vohra as Chairman and Group CEO. But it appears Jefferies has seen enough upside.
The global brokerage firm has downgraded Cohance Life to 'underperform' from 'hold', cutting its target price of Rs 300 from Rs 340, implying meaningful downside from current levels.
Jefferies noted that Cohance's Q4 numbers came in significantly below estimates and it wasn't a problem in just one division as the company reported year-on-year decline on every business segment, with the Specialty Chemicals division posting the sharpest fall.
Ebitda margins remain under pressure, with Jefferies slashing its FY27-28 EPS estimates by 14-17%.
To add to this, the management churn narrative has added another layer of complexity for Cohance's prospects. Jefferies notes that Vohra, despite his strong track record, is the third person to head the company in the space of 12 months.
As far as the outlook is concerned, the brokerage firm sees FY27 as another difficult year, with any meaning recovery unlikely to come before the second half. That is to assume the soft FY26 base does the heavy lifting.
The Vohra appointment may yet prove to be a genuine inflection point for Cohance Life. But the company's underlying numbers and the stock price momentum are telling different stories right now.
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