When some of the most expensive stocks are talked about (in terms of price and not valuations), one name that always tops the list is the mighty MRF (Madras Rubber Factory). One share of #MRF currently trades at a whopping price of INR 80,300 and has touched a lifetime high of INR 98,599.95 on the NSE in February last year.

However, if the second-most expensive stock is talked about, the famous #PAGEIND When some of the most expensive stocks are talked about (in terms of price and not valuations), one name that always tops the list is the mighty MRF (Madras Rubber Factory). One share of MRF currently trades at a whopping price of INR 80,300 and has touched a lifetime high of INR 98,599.95 on the NSE in February last year.

However, if the second-most expensive stock is talked about, the famous #PAGEIND Industries (NS: PAGE ) secures the spot almost all of the time. The company is in the business of manufacturing and trading of garments and has a market capitalization of INR 54,512 crores. However, one share of Page Industries has today touched a lifetime high of INR 49,135.60 on the NSE. To put it in perspective, the average monthly salary of a person in India is around INR 31,900, as per the data from salaryexplorer.com.

The share price of Page Industries has been continuously rising for the 5 sessions and is today up by a decent 2.33% to INR 48,873. In fact, the stock is not just expensive in terms of price but the valuations also seem quite high. The stock has been commanding rich valuations for a long time and currently, Page Industries shares are trading at a TTM P/E ratio of a massive 101.60. A company with a P/B ratio below 1 is considered to be undervalued while above 1, it starts to become expensive, and generally, a P/B ratio between 1 - 3 could be considered decently valued, although these ratios vary a lot from industry to industry. In the case of Page Industries, it’s 50.08! There’s only 1 stock in the Nifty 50 index that is trading at an even higher P/B than Page Industries (Page is not a Nifty 50 stock), which is #NESTLEIND Nestle (NS: NEST ) with a P/B ratio of 85.61.

The financials of the firm are strong but how much they justify the rich valuations is a question. The company clocked a 57.5% growth in the consolidated net income to INR 536.54 crores in FY22, compared to INR 340.57 crores in FY21. Consequently, the EPS has also jumped from INR 305.34 to INR 481.03 (the highest since 2013, at least) in the same period.
Interestingly, the stock is still rising after #NYKAA Nykaa (NS: FSNE ) declared a straight war against Page Industries as it recently entered the men’s innerwear space with its Gloot brand, as it plans to slice a good chunk of market share in this space.