Infosys Market Cap Jumps 
22, 000 Crores In A Day
Bangalore: In addition to a grand beginning in 2013, Infosys saw a high end performance in the third quarter of this fiscal, leading to the biggest rally in its share price since its listings in 1993. The IT giant who was not in the market’s favour for almost two years saw its share price rising 17 percent on Friday. Its market capitalization zoomed to $ 4.1 billion which is nearly Rs 22, 374 crores in a single day.
This was a better than expected performance for the December quarter with a much higher revenue of 4.2 percent ($ 1,872 million excluding Lodestone acquisition) than the average 3.7percent which the company had to record in the third and fourth quarter in order to meet its annual guidance of 5 percent. With the first two quarters having -1.1percent and 2.6percent, there were least expectations of Infosys even meeting 3.7percent that was required.
The company only claimed to be ‘cautiously optimistic’ for the rest of the year that the results weren’t an indicator of secular trend. Meanwhile CEO S.D. Shibulal remained modest stating that the company had worked hard adding a greater focus over higher value-added work including consulting and products and platforms that paid off.
The main stress factor for Infosys was its inability to get to the top line unlike its peers, Cognizant and TCS. According to senior Infosys executives higher pricing got by the company was an indication of the portfolio shift in favour of high-end work.
The net employee addition was less than 1000 in the third quarter, being the second lowest in the decade. It is cautious about this fact and the company is seen making 6000 campus offers so far. But Shibulal has kept his employees in good spirits to be on the right track, thus bringing a smile of vindication.
