If there is one midcap stock that has caught the unanimous attention of India’s top fund managers in March 2026, it is Anthem Biosciences. According to data from Nuvama Alternative and Quantitative Research tracking top activity in key mutual funds across pure equity all-marketcap schemes, Anthem Biosciences stands out as the single most widely added stock in the midcap universe during the month — featuring as a top addition for HDFC MF, SBI MF and Aditya Birla SL MF simultaneously, while also making a new entry into the portfolios of SBI MF and Aditya Birla SL MF. It is a rare convergence of independent conviction from three of India’s largest and most closely watched fund houses — and it raises an obvious question: what are they seeing?
What is Anthem Biosciences?
Anthem Biosciences is a Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CRDMO) with fully integrated operations spanning drug discovery, development and manufacturing. It operates through two segments — CRDMO Services, which deals with drug research and development, and Specialty Ingredients, which covers complex specialised fermentation-based APIs including probiotics, enzymes, peptides, nutritional actives, vitamin analogues and biosimilars. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Bengaluru, with promoter holding at a healthy 74.7%.
Anthem Biosciences listed on the exchanges on July 21, 2025, making it a relatively recent entrant to public markets. Despite being a new listing, it has already attracted significant institutional attention — mutual fund shareholding stood at 6.89% by early March 2026, a figure that is now rising given the fresh additions this month.
Q3 FY26 results — a mixed but contextual picture
For Q3 FY26, Anthem Biosciences reported consolidated revenue from operations of ₹423 crore, comprising ₹333 crore from CRDMO and ₹90 crore from specialty ingredients. EBITDA for the quarter stood at ₹191 crore, representing 41.8% margins — a robust operational performance that underscores the company’s pricing power and cost efficiency. For the nine-month period of 9MFY26, consolidated revenue stood at ₹1,513 crore, with the CRDMO business contributing ₹1,260 crore and specialty ingredients delivering ₹254 crore. EBITDA for the nine months came in at ₹671 crore at 41.5% margins.
On a year-on-year basis, Q3 revenue declined 12.5% and net profit fell 25.3% — driven by a combination of quarterly seasonality and timing of large order deliveries, which is a characteristic pattern in CRDMO businesses where lumpy deal recognition creates quarterly volatility. The market and fund managers appear to be looking past the quarterly noise and focusing on the structural growth story.
Valuations — not cheap, but justified?
As of April 13, 2026, Anthem Biosciences trades at ₹729.95, with a market capitalisation of ₹41,227 crore. The stock trades at a trailing P/E of approximately 72x and a P/B of around 50x. The 52-week range of ₹579.15 to ₹873.50 shows the stock has pulled back meaningfully from its highs — and it is precisely in this corrected zone that fund managers appear to be building positions.
Analyst price targets range from ₹720 on the low end to ₹835 on the high end, with the average consensus at ₹773. The valuation premium is underpinned by Anthem’s EBITDA margins — the current EBITDA margin stands at approximately 37% — which are among the highest in India’s CRDMO sector and reflect the company’s positioning in high-value, complex molecules rather than commoditised generics.
Why fund managers are piling in
The CRDMO sector is one of the most compelling structural growth themes in Indian pharma right now. As global pharmaceutical companies accelerate their China+1 strategy, India-based CRDMOs are the primary beneficiaries of outsourcing shifts in both early-stage research and commercial manufacturing. Anthem, with its integrated platform, peptide expertise and fermentation capabilities, sits at the intersection of multiple high-growth sub-segments within this theme.
The fact that HDFC MF, SBI MF and Aditya Birla SL MF — three fund houses with distinct investment philosophies and research teams — have independently identified Anthem as their top midcap addition in the same month is a powerful signal. It suggests that the March correction in the stock from its highs has presented what fund managers view as a meaningful entry opportunity into a high-quality compounder at a relatively more attractive level than where it listed.
The next quarterly result — expected around June 2026 — and any commentary on order pipeline and capacity utilisation will be the key triggers to watch.
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