TCS surpasses Accenture to become most-valuable IT services firm globally

At the last closing price of Rs 2,825, TCS was valued at $144.73 billion, (Rs 10.6 trillion), while Accenture is currently at $142.4 billion

Tata group flagship firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday became the most-valuable information technology (IT) company globally, surpassing rival Accenture for the first time. 

At the last closing price of Rs 2,825, TCS was valued at $144.73 billion (Rs 10.6 trillion). Accenture is currently valued at $142.4 billion, while IBM’s market cap is $110.5 billion. 

TCS now is much more richly-valued with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 34x compared to Accenture’s 29x. IBM trades at a P/E of less than 14 times. 

In the past fortnight, the Mumbai-based firm’s market cap has surged more than 20 per cent, underpinned by share buyback, better-than-expected results and outlook. 

TCS’ stock has seen significant upgrades in the past one month. Currently, the consensus 12-month price target for the stock is Rs 2,731, up from Rs 2,195 a month ago—data compiled by Bloomberg showed. 

On Wednesday, TCS announced Rs 16,000 crore ($2.2 billion) buyback to acquire about 1.42 per cent of outstanding shares at Rs 3,000 apiece. This is India’s largest outsourcing firm’s third buyback—all three have been Rs 16,000 crore each.