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Today's prices ask more of Titan Company than of ITC.
At current prices, buyers of ITC are assuming about 0% growth against 8% in its own record; for Titan Company it is 34% against 32%. That shows which share needs more to go right — not which is cheaper. How far each trades from its estimated fair value is in the full valuations.
- Valuation method: ITC on estimate withheld; Titan Company on discounted cash flow.
- Size: the two are worth roughly the same on the stock market.
- Record: Titan Company has grown revenue faster: ITC compounded at about 8% a year (FY2018–FY2026) and Titan Company at about 24% (FY2018–FY2026).
- What to watch: cigarette volumes and taxes at ITC; share gains from local jewellers at Titan Company.
| ITC | Titan Company | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ₹285 | ₹4,845 |
| Market cap | ₹3.57L Cr | ₹4.31L Cr |
| P/E | 18.9 | 61.3 |
| P/B | 4.93 | 27.46 |
| Fair value 🔒 sign in | ₹0,000 | ₹0,000 |
| Upside 🔒 sign in | +00% | +00% |
| Valued on | Estimate withheld | Discounted cash flow |
01Two businesses
Cigarettes pay for everything else
ITC is India's largest cigarette company, with brands such as Gold Flake, Classic and Navy Cut, and the cigarette business still earns most of its operating profit. Over two decades it has used that cash to build a packaged-foods and personal-care business — Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, Bingo!, Yippee!, Classmate, Savlon — along with paperboard and packaging mills and an agri-business that sources and exports crops.
A watchmaker that became a jeweller
Titan Company, a Tata group company promoted jointly with the Tamil Nadu government's TIDCO, began making watches in the 1980s and now earns most of its revenue from jewellery through Tanishq, Mia, Zoya and CaratLane. It also sells watches (Titan, Fastrack, Sonata), eyewear (Titan Eye+), fragrances and Taneira saris.
02The records side by side
Titan Company has grown revenue faster: ITC compounded at about 8% a year (FY2018–FY2026) and Titan Company at about 24% (FY2018–FY2026). By revenue the two are of broadly similar size. ITC kept 23.4% of revenue as net profit in FY2026; Titan Company kept 5.8% of revenue as net profit in FY2026 — a sign of very different business models.
Full ten-year tables and charts are on each company's page: ITC · Titan Company.
03What each price assumes
Work backwards from each share price and you can see what buyers are taking for granted — the rate each company must sustain to justify what it costs, against what its own record supports.
04What decides each one's value
- Cigarette volumes and taxesCigarettes are most of the profit. Tax changes decide how much volume is lost to smuggled and illegal cigarettes.
- FMCG marginsThe foods and personal-care business is large but earns thin margins; lifting them is the main source of new value.
- Share gains from local jewellersTanishq's growth has come from customers switching from family jewellers to trusted, hallmarked chains.
- Studded jewelleryDiamond and studded pieces earn much higher margins than plain gold, so the mix matters as much as volume.
05What could go wrong
- Tobacco taxationA large tax increase can cut legal cigarette volumes sharply.
- ESG pressureSome global investors avoid tobacco altogether, which can cap the multiple.
- The multipleA premium P/E leaves little room for a slower year.
- Gold volatility and dutiesSudden price swings or changes in import duty disrupt demand and margins.
06Which is better value?
Sign in free to see which trades further below its worth
- ✓Both fair values per share — each on the method that fits the business
- ✓Every step of both workings — growth, margins and cost of capital, with sources
- ✓Bull, base and bear cases — for each company
- ✓Downloadable reports — the full write-up for each, yours to keep
08Questions people ask
Is ITC or Titan Company better value?
That turns on how far each share trades from its estimated fair value. Both figures, with every step of the working, are in the full valuations, free to view once you sign in. On the public numbers, ITC trades at 18.9 times earnings and 4.93 times book value, and Titan Company at 61.3 times earnings and 27.46 times book value — but multiples alone mislead when two businesses work differently, which is why each is valued on the method that fits it.
What is the difference between ITC and Titan Company?
ITC is India's largest cigarette company, with brands such as Gold Flake, Classic and Navy Cut, and the cigarette business still earns most of its operating profit. Titan Company, a Tata group company promoted jointly with the Tamil Nadu government's TIDCO, began making watches in the 1980s and now earns most of its revenue from jewellery through Tanishq, Mia, Zoya and CaratLane.
Are ITC and Titan Company valued the same way?
No. ITC is valued on estimate withheld and Titan Company on discounted cash flow, because forcing one model onto both would misstate at least one of them.
What does today's price assume for ITC and Titan Company?
Worked backwards from the share price, ITC needs about 0% growth and Titan Company about 34% growth, against 8% and 32% in their own records.