Lenskart soars up to 90% in first year since listing: What's powering the rally in the eyewear giant?

Lenskart shares are in focus ahead of the one-year completion of its listing. The shares got listed on November 10, 2025, at a minor discount to the issue price of ₹402 apiece. However, post-listing, shares have shown a remarkable rally, soaring over 80%. On Monday, the shares are trading nearly 2% lower at ₹718 apiece on the NSE, trading 6% lower than their record high price of ₹762 apiece.

A year ago, the company received sharp skepticism from investors and market analysts over its valuation surge, ahead of the IPO. The company’s founder and CEO, Peeyush Bansal, acquired 4.27 crore shares at ₹52 per share just ahead of the IPO, in which the shares were issued at ₹380-₹402 per share. The overall IPO was 28x subscribed, with the Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIB) category bidding 40.3x, followed by Non-institutional investors (NII) at 18.3x, Retail investors at 7.5x, and employees at 4.9x.

Despite the criticism and skepticism around its valuations, the company sailed through and raised ₹7,278 crore in a combination of a ₹5,127 crore offer for sale and a ₹2,150 crore fresh issue. Besides this, shares soared nearly 90% in the year to hit a record high level of ₹762 apiece.

Superior earnings growth

Lenskart Solutions has delivered a superior earnings growth consistently for the past four quarters, after its listing in November last year. The topline growth remained consistently above 30% YoY for the past quarters. Similarly, the company also improved substantially growing operating profit and maintained the operating margins above 20% for the past four quarters. At the bottomline level too, the company improved its bottomline consistently and doubled from ₹103 crore in the previous year’s same quarter to ₹232 crore.

Superior operational metrics

Steady and consistent earnings growth was largely driven by improving operational metrics. As of Q2FY27, company performed 80 lac eye tests, up 40% YoY and sold 1.1 crore units, up 27% YoY. Besides this, the company also added 165 new stores and now operates through 2,868 stores in India. For its international business, the company operates through 756 stores, added 22 new stores during the quarter. Similarly, revenue for the quarter ending September 2026 jumped 29% YoY ₹1,201 crore.

Institutional investors favorite

Foreign institutional investors have largely remained net-sellers for Indian equities in 2026. However, they continued to add stake in selective equities. For Lenskart, FII’s increased their stake consistently for the past four quarters. From 3.86% in Q2FY26 to 18.26% in Q2FY27. The stocks also turned out to be favorites of domestic institutional investors as well. DII’s increased their stake from 15.8% in Q2 of FY26 to 26.8% in Q2 of FY27. A large pool of institutional demand kept the share price elevated despite the broader market weakness.

Valuation comfort

Despite shares growing nearly 90% from its issue price, the valuation comfort remained intact, led by superior earnings growth. The company continues to trade at a 160x price-to-earnings ratio, which looks very expensive. However, at the price-to-earnings growth metric, the company trades at 1.45x. Meaning the expensive valuation is paired with superior earnings growth, provided better appeal to institutional investors.

Bottomline

Lenskart Solutions has delivered superior returns to its IPO investors despite apprehensions over its valuations and growth potential. The company’s superior earnings, paired with strong operational metrics, provided valuation comfort to institutional investors who consistently increased their stake despite a broader pessimistic environment.