Buy Max Financial Services; target of Rs 2100: Motilal Oswal

Motilal Oswal's research report on Max Financial Services

Axis Max Life Insurance (MAXLIFE) reported an APE growth of 16% YoY to INR25.1b (in line). For 1HFY26, APE grew 15% YoY to INR41.8b. MAXLIFE’s VNB grew 25% YoY to INR 6.4b (7% beat), resulting in a VNB margin of 25.5% (150bp beat) vs 23.6% in 2QFY25. For 1HFY26, VNB grew 27% YoY to INR9.7b, resulting in a VNB margin of 23.3%. At the end of 1HFY26, the company reported an EV of ~INR269b, reflecting an RoEV of 15% and an operating RoEV of 16.3% (16.8% in 1HFY25).

Outlook

We retain our APE estimates and slightly raise our VNB margin estimates by 50bp to 25%/26%/26.5% in FY26/FY27/FY28. We reiterate our BUY rating with a TP of INR2,100, premised on 2.3x Sep’27E EV.