NTPC shares gain 2% following Q1 earnings; time to buy, sell or hold?

NTPC share price today: Shares of power company, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), gained over 2 per cent on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, logging an intraday high of ₹341.70.

At 12:10 PM, NTPC shares were trading at ₹340.55, up by 1.78 per cent on the National Stock Exchange. In comparison, Nifty50 was trading at 24,860.40 level, up by 39 points or 0.16 per cent. At the time of writing this report, around 7.7 million shares had changed hands on the counter, cumulatively, on the NSE and BSE.

The buying interest on the counter came after the company announced its results for the first quarter of the financial year 2025-2026 (Q1FY26).  READ STOCK MARKET LIVE UPDATES: SENSEX UP 120 pts, NIFTY ABOVE 24,800

NTPC Q1FY26 earnings

The Maharatna company reported an 11 per cent surge in its consolidated net profit levels during the quarter ended June 30, 2025, to ₹6,108.46 crore, as against ₹5,506.07 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. Consolidated revenue from operations figure stood at ₹47,065 crore, a slight decline of 3 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y). The figure stood at ₹48,529 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal. This was largely owing to a minor decline in power generation.

Expenses witnessed a marginal increase of 1.6 per cent to ₹42,540 crore during the first quarter of FY26. Meanwhile, the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for the quarter under review stood at ₹14,200 crore, up by 9 per cent Y-o-Y. As of June 30, 2025, NTPC's overall investments in subsidiaries and joint ventures (JVs) stood at ₹19,410 crore.  ALSO READ | Blue Dart Express shares slip 3% on posting 9% decline is Q1 PAT

What should you do?

D-street analysts have maintained a bullish stance on the stock, keeping in view the rising power demand, which continues to grow at 6 per cent annually.

"Firm capacity addition has been low in the past five years; thus, to meet peak demand, India has to fall back on thermal capacity, and NTPC has the best-performing thermal capacity in India...as power demand continues to grow India may need to add more thermal capacity to meet the medium-term demand before storage solutions become economically viable. NTPC is likely to add to this thermal capacity," ICICI Securities stated in its report, while maintaining a 'Buy' rating on the stock with a target price of ₹439 (₹442 earlier), valuing the thermal business at 15x FY27E EPS.

JM Financial took a similar view and has maintained its 'Buy' rating on the stock with a target price of ₹391.

"FY26 will be a momentous year for NTPC, marked by three feats of leadership; first, all-time high organic capacity addition, second, commissioning of its first pumped-hydro storage plant and lastly, the foundation stone of its first nuclear power plant. Additionally, the company is on its way to award a new stream of projects (13.6GW thermal and 4.6GW PSP) during FY26-28, the brokerage firm said.