Infosys tumbles over 8% drags down Sensex, peer stocks

Infosys shares slumped by over 8% today, shedding Rs 11,548 crore in its market value as investors were dismayed at company's sharp cut in dollar revenue forecast for 2012-13 and lower than expected first quarter earnings.

The stock took severe hit by nearly 8% in the opening itself with the company announcing its rather poor earning figures. With details of earnings outlook emerging, the stock lost further ground and touched day's low of 10.14%.
The scrip ended the day lower by 8.15% at Rs 2,265.25 on the BSE.

"Infosys reported yet another disappointing quarterly results. It scaled down FY'13 yearly dollar revenue guidance. We believe this clearly indicates challenging visibility in the business volumes and management's future expectation," Angel Broking IT Research Analyst Ankita Somani said.

Infosys earnings hit the sentiment weighing down other IT stocks. TCS, expected to announce its Q1 results after market hours, fell by 1.80% and Wipro lost 3.98%. The sectoral index closed down by a hefty 5.11% and was the worst performer among the 13 sectoral indices.

The broader market was also weighed down by weak numbers as Infosys was the biggest contributor to a 256.59-point fall in the Sensex.
At the National Stock Exchange, Infosys ended at Rs 2,260, down 8.54%.

"Overall, the results were gloomy with guidance numbers indicating that management is seeing challenges in terms of IT spends from big accounts," Somani added.

The company's FY'13 dollar revenue guidance disappointed the street and the impact was also seen in other IT stocks today, Milan Bavishi Head Research Inventure Growth & Securities said.

Infosys reported a 32.92% jump in net profit to Rs 2,289 crore in first quarter, but failed to enthuse the market due to sharp cut in dollar revenue guidance amid a volatile global economic environment.

Its revenue was up 28.47% to Rs 9,616 crore in the first quarter of current fiscal, but in dollar terms the growth was just 4.8% at USD 1,752 million.

While the company exceeded its revenues forecast in rupee terms, it failed to meet dollar revenue guidance of USD 1,771-1,789 million for the quarter.

In dollar terms, Infosys slashed its forecast of revenue to be at least USD 7.34 billion (a growth of 5% y-o-y) against earlier guidance of USD 7.55 billion-USD 7.69 billion (a growth of 8-10% y-o-y).