Coforge, Persistent Systems rally up to 12%; IT stocks shine on strong Q3

Shares of IT companies Coforge, formerly known as NIIT Technologies, and Persistent Systems witnessed strong buying on Thursday, with the stock price rising up to 12% in the early trade. Investors cheered their December quarter earnings reports, which beat Street estimate, triggering positive momentum in the Nifty IT index. Both the stocks were among top gainers in the Nifty IT space, which propelled the index over 2%.

Barring HCLTech, which dropped up to 0.6%, all 9 other nine constituents of the Nifty IT index surged in the range of 2-12%. The index heavyweights TCS and Infosys were least gainers, rising up to 0.5%, in sync with benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty, which traded higher by 0.25% at the time of reporting.

Shares of Coforge rallied as much as 11.8% to hit a high of ₹9,198.20 on the BSE, while its market capitalisation climbed to ₹61,198 crore. The mid-sized IT stock inches close to its 52-week high level of ₹10,017.95 touched on December 30, 2024, nearly doubling from its 52-week low of ₹4,291.05 hit on May 9, 2024.

In a similar trend, Persistent Systems shares gained 10% to ₹6,253.85 on the BSE, pushing its market cap to ₹96,630 crore. The counter touched its 52-week high of ₹6,788.80 on December 20, 2024, and a 52-week low of ₹3,232.60 on June 4, 2024. The IT stock has delivered 50% return in the last one year; 29% in six months; while it lost over 3% year-to-date (YTD).

Coforge, Persistent Systems deliver strong Q3

Coforge has reported stellar earnings in a seasonally weak December quarter, while it announced dividend and another acquisition. The company reported a 10.3% rise in net profit at ₹2,680 crore in Q3 FY25 as against ₹2,428 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Revenue jumped 42.8% to ₹3,318.2 crore in Q3 FY25, while EBITDA grew 29.3% to ₹519 crore compared to the same period last year. For the second straight quarter, the company’s order intake was in excess of $500 million, with four large deals were signed during the October-December period of 2024. It saw a 40.1% YoY growth in order book executable over next 12 months to $1,365Mn at the end of the quarter. 

The board of the company recommended an interim dividend of ₹19 per share, for which the record date has been fixed as January 30, 2025.

Adding to it, Coforge has also signed an agreement to acquire 100% stake in U.S.-based Xceltrait Inc. for $17.85 million.

Meanwhile, Persistent Systems reported 30.4% year-on-year growth in net profit at ₹373 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2024, driven by the company's AI-led, platform driven services strategy. Consolidated revenue rose 22.6% YoY to ₹3,062.28 crore, while its operating margin improved by 90 basis points to 14.9%. It also declared an interim dividend of ₹20 per share. The order booking for the quarter was at $594.1 million in Total Contract Value (TCV) and at $428.3 million in Annual Contract Value (ACV) terms. 

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