Infosys ends 3.9% lower on dollar revenue guidance

NEW DELHI: Infosys shares settled nearly 4 per cent lower on Monday after hitting its 52-week high of Rs 1,219 in trade on Monday, after India's second largest software exporter slashed its FY16 sales growth guidance to 6.4-8.4 per cent from a previous forecast of 7.2-9.2 per cent in US dollar terms.

The stock settled 3.88 per cent lower at Rs 1122.50 on BSE.

However, the IT major posted a net profit of Rs 3,398 crore, up 12.14 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis, which was above ET Now estimate of Rs 3292.70 crore. Infosys reported a net profit of Rs 3,030 crore for the previous quarter.

The company's revenues for the September quarter stood at Rs 15,635 crore, up 8.9 per cent from the same period last year. Analysts on an average were anticipating at least 4-4.5 per cent sequential growth in constant currency terms for the quarter.

"We have seen double-digit growth in profits after a long time, I hope this marks Infosys' return to that kind of territory. We are talking of a company that used to do 30 per cent year-on-year profit growth almost every quarter and now they have been doing sub-5 per cent for the last few years. So I am glad to see this has happened," says Deepak Shenoy, Founder, Capital Mind.

"Utilisation is going to be low, this is typically when a lot of the fresh recruits come in. I do not expect that number to be significant, but overall, we will need to see their product mix and how their clients have changed that might give some indication. The bottom line numbers are good," he added.