TCS m-cap nears Rs 12 trillion mark; stock rallies over 8% in 3 days

TCS stock needs to rise another 3 per cent to hit Rs 12 trillion market-cap

Shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) continued their upward movement, hitting a new high of Rs 3,113, after rising 2.4 per cent on the BSE on Tuesday. TCS is set to become the second listed company to enter the Rs 12 trillion market capitalisation (market cap) club.

The stock has rallied 8.5 per cent in the past three trading days. TCS' Rs 16,000 crore share buyback programme closed on Friday, January 1.

A sharp rally in TCS share price has seen the company's market cap (m-cap) increase by Rs 91,089 crore in the past three sessions to Rs 11.68 trillion, as of Tuesday afternoon. The company's m-cap is less than 3 per cent away from achieving the Rs 12-trillion market-cap mark. Reliance Industries is at number one position in the overall market cap ranking with Rs 12.49 trillion market cap, the BSE data showed.

The IT bellwether is scheduled to announce its October-December quarter (Q3FY21) results on Friday, January 8. The board will also consider the declaration of a third interim dividend to the equity shareholders.

TCS has, over the years, invested in R&D, platforms and digital reskilling that has helped the company post a consistently strong financial performance.

Motilal Oswal Securities expects TCS to report strong growth in Q3FY21, led by ramp of large deal wins in the previous quarter. The brokerage firm expects a decline in sequential margins on account of wage hike during the quarter. “We expect reporting of robust TCV led by large deal wins of Deutsche and Prudential. The sector demand outlook and margin impact from large captive deals would be in focus,” it said in its technology sector preview.

Analysts at Emkay Global Financial Services build in 2 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) constant currency (CC) revenue growth with ~60 basis points cross-currency tailwinds. Key things to watch out for in the calendar year 2021 (CY21) are: IT budget, demand trends in key verticals like BFSI, retail, manufacturing and communications, deal intake in Q3 and management commentary on the deal pipeline and deal closure momentum, the brokerage firm said in Q3FY21 preview.

The pricing trends, competitive intensity and clients demand for lower rate cards around WFH delivery; captives takeover and vendor consolidation opportunities; margin outlook - possibility of another salary hike in next couple of quarters and financial impact from the implementation of the Code on Social Security, 2020, are also among key monitorable, it said.