Infosys gains 1% ahead of Q4 earnings announcement

Shares of Infosys gained 1% on Friday ahead of the IT major's fourth quarter results later in the day. 

At 11:05 am, the stock was trading at Rs 1,171, up 0.8% as compared to 0.4% rise in S&P BSE Sensex. It hit a high and low of Rs 1,175.45 and 1150.20 in intra-day deals today.

On a year-to-date basis, the stock has rallied around 12.84% and has underperformed the Nifty IT index that gained around 13.5% during this period. By comparison, the Nifty50 index slipped around 0.25% YTD.

According to analysts, guidance for FY19, CEO's strategy and long term roadmap for Infosys and deal wins will be key monitorables in the Q4 results.

"Revenues expected to grow 1.4% q-o-q in CC terms, aided 100 basis points (bps) by currency movement (USD growth 2.4% q-o-q). EBITDA margin expected to rise 30bps q-o-q due to absence of wage hikes and operational efficiencies negating marginal impacts of ramping of US workforce and rupee appreciation," said Edelweiss Reasearch in a note.

Meanwhile, Nomura expects constant currency (CC) growth in revenue of 1% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q). Likely FY19F guidance of 5.5%- 7.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) in CC terms and retention of EBIT margin guidance of 23%- 25%.