Eternal target raised to Rs 430 as Jefferies backs Blinkit

Jefferies raised its target price for Eternal to Rs 430 from Rs 415 following the Zomato and Blinkit parent’s second-quarter FY27 results, Economic Times Markets reported on October 22. The revised target implies roughly 38% upside from the previous NSE closing price of Rs 312.35—not a guaranteed return.

The brokerage’s assessment rests on faster Blinkit store additions, improving operating economics and food delivery growth above 20%. It also cited greater confidence in District, although the account did not detail that business’s financial performance.

Blinkit expansion drives the higher target

Jefferies put Blinkit’s EBITDA at Rs 1.8 billion, or Rs 180 crore, describing the performance as better than its estimate. EBITDA measures earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation.

According to the brokerage’s account, management increased its store target by 15% to more than 3,500 by March 2027 and set a goal of 5,000 by March 2028. Most additions are expected in smaller cities, where Jefferies said store economics remain encouraging despite lower average order values.

The brokerage expects year-on-year net order value growth to accelerate from Q3 FY27 as openings gather pace. It does not anticipate near-term margin dilution: its forecast assumes improvements at established stores and in mature cities will offset the initial costs of new locations. Further margin expansion over the medium to long term remains a brokerage expectation, rather than an achieved outcome.

Food delivery prioritises earnings growth over wider margins

Food delivery growth came from both additional users and more frequent ordering, Jefferies said. Monthly transacting users rose 16% year on year to 28 million.

Competition intensified compared with earlier quarters, partly reflecting Zomato’s own spending to acquire users and encourage repeat orders. Jefferies said those investments were producing favourable results.

Management is prioritising growth in absolute adjusted EBITDA rather than margin expansion, according to the brokerage. It expects margins to stay within a relatively narrow band for the next one to two years, while management remains confident of growth above 20% over the near to medium term.

Dark.ai adds an experimental business bet

Beyond the quarterly results, Jefferies identified Eternal’s dark.ai application as a development to watch, while acknowledging that little is yet known about its prospects.

The application is presented as privacy-focused and uses fine-tuned open-weight AI models running on the company’s own infrastructure. End-to-end encryption is a company promise, not an independently established finding in this account.

Management described the project as an early-stage bet. Current costs are not material, according to the report, but scaling it would principally require investment in hardware and computing capacity.

Profit rises; price target remains a forecast

Eternal reported Q2 FY27 net profit of Rs 125 crore, up 92% from Rs 65 crore a year earlier. Revenue from operations was reported at Rs 24,138 crore, against Rs 13,590 crore in Q2 FY26.

Shares rose about 2% on Thursday, according to the reported market snapshot. They were still down roughly 3% over a week and more than 8% over a month, while remaining up more than 10% for 2026.

The Rs 430 target reflects Jefferies’ assessment of future performance. The store goals, growth expectations and margin outlook depend on execution and market conditions; they are not investment recommendations from BharatVox.