IT majors give Street pleasant surprise

India's frontline software services companies "" TCS, Wipro and Infosys Technologies "" have beaten market expectations by registering a nearly 50 per cent growth in revenue (48.24 per cent) and net profit (48.52 per cent) during the quarter ended September 2006.

Their quarter on quarter growth in revenue was higher at 10.66 per cent, while net profit rose by 14.88 per cent.

Investors can only look forward to healthier third- and fourth-quarter results given the $3 billion and $4billion revenue guidance of Infosys and TCS, respectively.

Meanwhile, the year-on-year operating margins were marginally lower by 56 basis points to 27.19 per cent, while it rose 160 basis points quarter on quarter.

Infosys leads the chart with operating margins of 32.14 per cent (32 per cent), followed by TCS at 28.27 per cent (30.25 per cent) and Wipro with 21 per cent (20.91 per cent).

Infosys has outperformed the other two companies with a year on year revenue growth of 50.44 per cent (14.46 per cent Q/Q), compared to TCS at 52.30 per cent (6.33 per cent Q/Q) and Wipro with 41.46 per cent (12.85 per cent Q/Q). The year-on-year growth rates of TCS growth are not comparable because the performance for the quarter ended September 2006 includes the revenues of the merged entities.

The net profit of Infosys Technologies rose 51.96 per cent year on year (15.10 per cent Q/Q) while TCS posted a net profit growth of 46.89 per cent (15.24 per cent Q/Q). Wipro has posted net profit growth of 46.49 per cent YoY and 14.06 per cent Q/Q.