Sun TV share price: Sun TV Network’s investment case is increasingly extending beyond its traditional television business, with the value of its sports franchises emerging as a key driver of the stock’s valuation.
Domestic brokerage house Elara Securities retained its ‘buy’ rating on the stock and raised its target price on Sun TV to ₹925 from ₹780 per share, indicating a 45% potential upside.
The brokerage remained bullish, arguing that Sun TV combines a highly cash-generative core media business with valuable sports assets, including SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH), SunRisers Eastern Cape (SA20) and SunRisers Leeds (The Hundred). Together, these sports franchises now account for around 45% of Elara’s sum-of-the-parts, or SOTP, equity valuation for Sun TV.
IPL team valuations are changing
A key part of Elara’s revised valuation argument is the sharp increase in private-market valuations for IPL franchises. The brokerage pointed to the March 2026 transactions involving Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru as important benchmarks for valuing established IPL teams.
Rajasthan Royals was sold at a valuation of around $1.6 billion, while Royal Challengers Bengaluru was valued at approximately $1.8 billion. According to Elara, these transactions imply valuations of around ₹15,000-16,700 crore for established IPL teams.
This provides a fresh reference point for Sun TV’s SunRisers Hyderabad franchise. SRH has reached the IPL playoffs in eight of its 14 seasons, won the tournament in 2016 and finished runners-up in 2018 and 2024.
Elara believes the private-market transactions have helped establish a much higher valuation floor for IPL franchises, which in turn could unlock value for Sun TV shareholders.
Sports business has become a major part of the bull case
The growing contribution of sports assets is significant because Sun TV’s core television business has faced a relatively subdued growth environment.
Advertising and subscription revenues have remained broadly flat over FY23-FY26, while advertising revenue has declined by around 6-7% annually, according to Elara. The brokerage does not expect a meaningful recovery in advertising revenue in the near term.
However, the core media business continues to generate substantial cash despite the lack of strong top-line growth. Elara said the segment maintains margins of more than 60% and converts over 75% of EBITDA into operating cash.
The brokerage estimated that Sun TV’s core media business generated ₹98 billion in free cash flow between FY18 and FY26. This cash-generation ability provides a strong base to the company’s valuation even as investors increasingly focus on its sports portfolio.
Elara raises Sun TV target to ₹925
Elara valued Sun TV’s core media business using a discounted cash flow approach and assigned it a value of ₹12,300 crore. This represented roughly 15 times its estimated FY28 core media profit after tax.
For the sports assets, the brokerage valued SRH at 80 times FY28 estimated profit after tax and SunRisers Leeds at 12 times FY28 sales, broadly in line with comparable companies. Including cash on the books, these valuations resulted in a revised fair value of ₹925 per share, compared with the earlier target of ₹780.
Elara also raised its FY28-FY29 revenue and earnings-per-share estimates for Sun TV by 4% each, partly reflecting higher movie revenue.
Sun TV share performance
Sun TV shares were trading firmly in Friday’s session, October 9, rising 3.65% to ₹637 per share in today’s deals. The stock had touched its 52-week high of ₹664.60 on September 30, 2026, while its 52-week low stood at ₹447, recorded on September 21, 2026.
The media stock has also delivered strong returns across multiple time frames, gaining over 6% in the past week and 42% over the past month. It has advanced 27.5% in the last three months, while its gains stood at 8% over six months and 10% over the past year, reflecting its recent strong performance.
Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.
