CLSA upgrades TechM to ‘buy’; bullish on Infosys, HCL

Mumbai: CLSA has upgraded Tech Mahindra to ‘buy’ and rated Infosys and HCL Technologies as its preferred picks ahead of the September quarter results season.

The foreign brokerage also said the risk-reward for TCS is attractive at current levels. CLSA has maintained a ‘buy’ rating on HCL Tech and raised the price target by 11.5% to Rs 970. It has also maintained a ‘buy’ rating on Infosys, while raising target price to Rs 1,180 from Rs 1,150. The brokerage has also raised the target price of for TCS to Rs 2,610 from Rs 2,550 while retaining its ‘outperform’ recommendation.

"Our conversations with Tech Mahindra management lead us to take a more optimistic view on potential margin expansion; hence the 11.5% upgrade to our FY22/23 EPS forecasts. Valuations at 15 times FY22 EPS appear attractive on an absolute and relative basis," said CLSA, raising target price on Tech Mahindra to Rs 940 from Rs 780, which indicates an upside potential of 14% from Thursday's closing price of Rs 822.65.

CLSA said normalisation of supply-side constraints and sharp currency moves through the quarter are likely to distort headline financials of information technology companies in the second quarter and advised investors to focus on profile of order booking and deal pipeline to assess recovery strength during the second half of the ongoing financial year and in financial year 2021-22. CLSA said recovery in revenue growth should help most companies manage the impact of 2% depreciation in the rupee through the quarter.

CLSA said TCS and Tech Mahindra could be the outliers in this regard due to execution normalising.

The brokerage has estimated 2.6-5.6% sequential growth in revenue in dollar terms for the top five players.

TCS will announce earnings for the quarter ended September on Wednesday followed by Infosys on October 14 and HCL Technologies on October 16. Tech Mahindra will announce quarterly results on October 23.