Polycab, KEI Industries, other cables & wires firms see strong Q1; can higher copper prices sustain growth?

Wires and cable manufacturers like Polycab India, RR Kabel, KEI Industries, and Sterlite Technologies among others are in focus of investors after the companies recorded strong Q1 earnings performance amid elevated copper prices and demand momentum.

Experts now predict that key focus in the upcoming period will be on monitoring the cost and price equation along with the ability of the companies to improve on the margin growth once the copper prices stabilise in the global market.

However, even if the prices stabilise at a higher level amid the supply crisis issues, the companies will likely continue to gain as rising copper inflates revenues.

How did top firms perform in Q1 earnings?

After the Q1 show, market experts said that the Q1 earnings of the cables & wires companies were in-line with the expectations, while the revenue growth somewhat ‘re-rated’ the sector’s demand story.

Major companies like Polycab, RR Kabel, among others recorded strong revenue and profit growth in the period under review as experts now focus on the reversal of copper prices in the upcoming period.

“This is volume growth, not a base effect, and not a one-off,” said Saikat Kumar, Partner & Board Member, Red Lions Capital DIPMarket.

Although the strong Q1 performance was not just driven by volumes, the elevated prices and demand momentum from the domestic industries somewhat aided the earnings growth.

With the majority of gains driven by the higher copper prices, the companies were recording growth due to the demand momentum from sectors like power transmission and distribution, data centres, construction, and oil and gas.

“Q1 FY27 was a top-line blowout with a margin asterisk. The asterisk is that a meaningful share of the revenue surge is copper-price pass-through rather than pure volume, and raw-material inflation pinched percentage margins across the sector even as absolute profits grew,” said Harshal Dasani, Business Head of INVAsset PMS.

Wire & cable stocks in focus

Outlook for Q2 earnings

Saikat Kumar, Partner & Board Member, Red Lions Capital DIPMarket said that the industry volumes are expected to hold through the second quarter of FY27 as margins normalise due to the inventory-gain effect washing out in the period.

“What I actually watch is how fast copper reverses once it does, working capital across the sector if prices stay elevated, and valuation,” said the expert.

Kumar explained that the wires and cable manufacturing companies which never relied on copper price gains in the first place are set to emerge as winners during the commodity price correction phase.

“We're constructive on the sector. But this isn't a 'buy the space' moment anymore — it's a balance-sheet discrimination trade,” said the analyst.

In line with the constructive outlook, Harshal Dasani, Business Head of INVAsset PMS, said that if copper prices stabilise in the market, the Q2 margins of companies should recover as prices catch up with costs, in turn setting the stage for positive earnings surprises in the next quarterly results even on steady volumes.

The experts also predict that investors should track volume growth against value growth, the premium and export mix, and working-capital discipline at elevated metal prices in the upcoming period.

“The caution is valuation, with the sector at record highs pricing sustained execution. Within our constructive view on the power and capex cycle, wires and cables remain a preferred picks-and-shovels expression, best accumulated on consolidation rather than chased into strength,” said Dasani.

Copper prices hit record high

Copper is a highly electrically conductive key element which is used by the wire and cable manufacturing industry to make their products, in turn minimising the energy loss during transmission.

In August 2026, global copper prices surged to hit a record high of $6.8665 per 25,000 pounds due to supply-side pressures and higher demand for the commodity among investors. Media reports also suggest that some nations were aggressively stockpiling copper, while the commodity’s demand increases due to higher use in grid infrastructure.

“If copper holds here through Q3 and Q4, the conversation shifts fast, from margin tailwind to working capital pressure — and that hits smaller, thinner-balance-sheet players first, not the leaders,” said Saikat Kumar.

On Thursday, August 13, the global copper futures were trading 0.84% lower at $6.5595 per 25,000 pounds, in comparison to $6.6155 per 25,000 pounds at the previous commodity market close.

Investing.com data showed that in the last six months, Copper futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) have risen over 13%, and were trading more than 4% higher over the last one-month period.