Shares of Piramal Pharma surged over 18 percent on Wednesday, October 28, to hit an 18-month high of Rs 235.22, emerging as the top performer in the Nifty 500 index. The sharp rally came after the pharmaceutical company reported a surprised profit for the July-September quarter of the financial year 2026-27. Piramal Pharma’s sales growth outpaced the increase in expenses, helping it deliver a quarter earnings performance that exceeded market expectations.

Piramal Pharma clocked a consolidated net profit of Rs 5 crore in the July-September period of the current fiscal year compared with loss of Rs 99.22 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

Analysts had expected the company to report a net loss for the sixth consecutive quarter, with the loss estimated at Rs 71.74 crore. The Mumbai-headquartered company's revenue from operations rose over 28 percent year-on-year and over 15 percent sequentially to Rs 2,617 crore, surpassing analysts' estimate of Rs 2,327 crore by a wide margin.

Its total expenses, too, grew to Rs 2,589.10 crore in the September quarter from Rs 2,170.29 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The stock closed 16.04 percent higher at Rs 230.60 on the NSE. It opened at Rs 214.10 and climbed as much as 18.57 percent to hit an intraday high of Rs 235.64, compared with the previous close of Rs 198.72.