Wipro pips HCL Tech in m-cap to become third most-valued Indian IT firm

 At 09:37 am, Wipro's market-cap stood at Rs 2.65 trillion while that of HCL Technologies was Rs 2.62 trillion, BSE data shows

IT major Wipro, on Friday, regained the position as India's third most-valued information technology (IT) company, surpassing HCL Technologies in terms of market capitalization (market-cap).

At 09:37 am, Wipro stood at number 12 in the overall m-cap ranking with an m-cap of Rs 2.65 trillion. HCL Technologies, meanwhile, slipped to number 13 with an m-cap of Rs 2.62 trillion, BSE data shows. Wipro has regained this spot after a gap of 18 months. Earlier, on October 22, 2019, Wipro had a market cap of Rs 1.449 trillion while HCL Technologies had a market cap of Rs 1.444 trillion.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is at number one position in the IT company's market-cap rank, stands strong with a market-cap of Rs 11.47 trillion, followed by Infosys (Rs 5.72 trillion), data shows.

Shares of Wipro hit a record high of Rs 494.50 on Thursday, rallying 16 percent in the past five trading days, after the company reported a healthy IT services revenue growth and margins in the March quarter (Q4FY21). In comparison, HCL Technologies were down 2 percent during the same period. The stock had hit an all-time high of Rs 1,073.55 on January 13. The company is scheduled to announce its Q4FY21 results today.

After a muted growth over the last few years, Wipro delivered strong results for the third quarter in a row led by healthy volume growth. After a steep decline in Q1FY21, the company bounced back sharply.

"Wipro's turnaround has been led by the strategy of the new CEO, coupled with a strong demand environment. Along with these, improved execution is likely to drive earnings going ahead," analysts at Edelweiss Securities said. All in all, the brokerage firm remains optimistic about the demand environment and maintains ‘BUY’ on the stock with an unchanged target price of Rs 550.

ICICI Securities, on the other hand, said that the key highlights of the quarter were healthy deal wins, up 16.7 percent quarter on quarter (QoQ), to $1.4 billion, a healthy net addition of 7,404 employees, and higher offshore up 180 bps to 54.5 percent. "Robust Q1FY22E guidance IT services revenues would be in the range of $2,195 - 2,238 million, which translates into 2.0-4.0 percent QoQ growth. The guidance does not include announced acquisitions of Capco and Ampion," it said.