Infosys records sharpest single day fall in 10 months; stock falls 4.5%

Infosys ended 4.5% lower at Rs 1,284.50, its sharpest single day fall since August 21, 2017.

Shares of Infosys have posted their sharpest single day fall in 10 months, after stock of the country’s second largest software exporter ended 4.5% lower at Rs 1,284.50 on the BSE on Thursday. The stock had declined 5.6% to Rs 1,269 in intra-day trade.

Earlier, on August 21, 2017, shares of Infosys had fallen 5.4% in single day, after falling 10% in its previous day.

In past one week, Infosys had outperformed the market by surging 6% after the company said that it is scheduled to announce its financial results for first quarter (April-June) of current fiscal 2018-19 (FY19) on July 13. On comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 1% till Wednesday.

The stock hit an all-time high of Rs 1,358 on Tuesday, rallied 29% thus far in the calendar year 2018, against 4.7% rise in the benchmark index till yesterday.

“Infosys should continue to guide for 6-8% YoY growth in constant currency. However, its USD revenue growth outlook may be trimmed to 6-8% from 7-9% after depreciation of AUD, GBP and EUR v/s the USD. We expect Infosys to raise its margin guidance by 50bp, considering a more benign currency,” Motilal Oswal Securities said in results preview.

From a mid-to-long-term perspective, we prefer Infosys for its secular improvement post new leadership, relative valuation gap with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and attractive dividend yield from its payout for FY19, added report.

“We expect modest growth acceleration over FY18-FY21 as Infosys’s ‘Navigate your Next’ strategy shapes up. In the near term, we believe the company’s robust capital return commitments in addition to normal payouts will support the stock price,” analysts at BOB Capital Markets said in a report. The brokerage firm initiate with ADD and a Mar’19 target price of Rs 1,390 per share.