Infosys shares fall after lower than expected guidance
The shares of India's second largest software services exporter fell 1.5% on Monday on the domestic stock exchange after the company set a lower than expected guidance for the current fiscal and reported disappointing fourth quarter results.
The Bangalore-based company said that it has seen an unexpected fall in revenue and net profit in the quarter. The fall in share prices resulted in a fall in most other IT stocks and the BSE IT index fell to close 8.76 per cent lower.
The company’s revenue in the quarter fell 4.8 per cent to Rs 8,852 crore and net profit fell 2.4 per cent to Rs 2,316 crore. The company had originally aimed for 20 per cent growth in 2011/12 but was forced to revive it downward to 16 per cent during the year due to various reasons.
Infosys guided to full year revenues in the range of $7,029 million and $7,033 million during the December quarter. The company is likely to target a growth rate of between 11 and 13 per cent in 2012-13 as predicted by industry body Nasscom.
The company’s year-on-year revenue recorded a growth of Rs 8,852 crore in the fourth quarter compared to Rs 7,250 crore in the same period in the previous year. The net profit increased 27 per cent to Rs 2,316 crore from Rs 1,818 crore in the same period in the previous year.
Several analysts in eth market have downgraded the earnings estimates for the company while some have even downgraded its stock. However, most of them still remain with the purchase advice for the company’s shares.