Why Infosys shares have hit 52-week low
Shares in Infosys, India's second biggest IT outsourcer, slumped to a 52-week low Wednesday. Infosys, which has the biggest weightage among IT stocks, made a new year-low at Rs 2,150 today.
Infosys, once the IT sector bellwether, has seen a steady decline in its share prices on the back of weak financial results and a slew of visa misuse cases in the US, its biggest market.
Shares in the company are down 22 per cent since the beginning of this year. In contrast, the Sensex has gained a little over 9 per cent in 2012. Infosys' performance is in stark contrast to TCS, whose shares are up 4 per cent this year. TCS is India's biggest IT outsourcer with net revenues in excess of $10 billion.
Infosys was considered to be the industry bellwether because of its ability to achieve and usually exceed dollar revenue forecasts. That kept analysts and investors happy. However, over the past few quarters, Infosys has been unable to keep pace with its forecast
From a company that exceeded forecast, Infosys went on to cut its forecast more than expected. It cut its FY13 sales outlook to 5 per cent, down from its April estimate of 8-10 per cent growth. The company has also stopped giving out quarterly guidance in view of the uncertain environment.
Not surprisingly, the company's shares have lost over 4 per cent since July 12, when the company delivered a below estimates outlook for FY13.
Investors have now started questioning the company's growth strategy. That's because Infosys has often cited weak macroeconomic environment and falling client confidence as the reasons behind its falling fortunes. However, other companies like TCS and HCL, India's number four software services exporter, seem to thrive in the same environment.
"It makes you wonder if they are operating in the same environment because the management view of the two companies are completely different," Ambareesh Baliga, COO at Way2Wealth Brokers had earlier told NDTV contrasting Infosys' performance with that of TCS.
HCL, incidentally, has surpassed Street estimates in the June quarter and its shares are up 6 per cent today. Earlier, TCS said it expects to beat the industry export revenue growth forecast of 11-14 per cent for this fiscal year set by trade body Nasscom.
SOURCE : profit.ndtv.com
