HCL falls on first-qtr profit miss, disappointing margin outlook

Shares of HCL Technologies Ltd dropped as much as 2.5% on Wednesday, a day after the Indian IT services company missed first-quarter profit estimates, mainly due to higher employee-related expenses.

HCL posted a net profit of 32.83 billion rupees ($412.28 million) on Tuesday, falling short of the average estimates of 33.1 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.

The company reiterated revenue growth outlook for the year 2022-23 at 12% to 14% in constant currency and said it expected earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin to be between 18% and 20%.


Multiple analysts said the margin outlook was disappointing.

"We expect HCL to continue to struggle (on margin side) due to elevated supply-side issues and weak start to FY23, which will result in its EBIT margin missing the lower end of its guidance by 50 basis points," Motilal Oswal analysts said in a note.

($1 = 79.6300 Indian rupees)