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Tata Consultancy Services
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Tata Consultancy Services
Cluster: Evergreen
Recommendation: Buy
Price target: Rs1,425
Current market price: Rs1,128
Price target revised to Rs1,425
Result highlights
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has reported a growth of 1.1% quarter on quarter (qoq) and 25.5% year on year (yoy) in its consolidated revenues to Rs5,202.8 crore during Q1FY2008. The sequential revenue growth was largely driven by a 7.6% volume growth in the international business and a 2.2% improvement in the billing rates and employee productivity. On the other hand, the appreciation in the rupee adversely affected the revenue growth by 6.4% on a sequential basis.
The earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin declined by 250 basis points to 23.1% sequentially, largely due to the adverse impact of the rupee's appreciation (an impact of 258 basis points) and wage hikes (an impact of 208 basis points). On the other hand, the improvement of 220 basis points in the billing rates and productivity gains limited the decline in the margins. The operating profit declined by 9% qoq to Rs1,199.9 crore.
The other income jumped by 68.9% qoq and 129.8% yoy to Rs151.6 crore. If the one-time income of Rs66.3 crore from the stake sale in SITEL is excluded from the other income of Q4FY2007, the other income has leapfrogged by 545.5% on a sequential basis. The jump in the other income component was aided by the gain of Rs107 crore on the foreign exchange (forex) cover during the quarter.
The high other income and lower tax rate (due to a write-back of Rs29.3 crore of provision made earlier) enabled the company to report a 3.5% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) and a 34% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in its consolidated earnings (adjusted for one-time items) to Rs1,156.2 crore.
In terms of the outlook, the company doesn't give any specific growth guidance. However, it re-iterated that the demand environment continues to be robust and the gross employee addition would be higher than 32,462 reported in FY2007 (11,000 gross additions in Q2). The TCS management also expects to maintain the net margins on a full year basis, in spite of the steep appreciation in the rupee and the aggressive salary hikes in FY2008 (12-15% for the offshore employees and around 3% for the onsite employees). The loss at the operating level due to the pressure on the margins is expected to be offset by a higher other income resulting from the gains on the forex cover.
The key operational highlights of Q1 are: (1) an addition of 54 clients; (2) a healthy mining of the existing client base in terms of a robust jump in the number of clients in all categories over the annual revenue run rate of $1 million; (3) a sequential growth of 4.3% in the revenues from the Top 10 clients (in spite of the adverse impact of the rupee appreciation); (4) the attrition rate in the information technology (IT) service business at a comfortable level of 11%; and (5) the closure of one large deal worth over $100 million and three deals of over $20 million each. On the flip side, there has been a slowdown in the sequential growth of revenues from the manufacturing industry vertical and global consulting practice.
To factor in the exchange rate assumption of Rs40 for FY2008 and FY2009, we have revised down the FY2008 and FY2009 earnings estimates by 2.5% and 3% respectively. We maintain the Buy call on the stock with a revised price target of Rs1,425 (around 23x FY2009 earning per share [EPS]).
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Investment in equity shares has its own risks. Sincere efforts have been made to present the right investment perspective.The information contained herein is based on analysis and up on sources that we consider reliable. I, however, do not vouch for the accuracy or the completeness thereof. This material is for personal information and I am not responsible for any loss incurred based upon it.& take no responsibility whatsoever for any financial profits or loss which may arise from the recommendations given in this blog.
