Tag - #HCLTECH

Confident of double-digit growth in FY22 – HCL Tech

Update on the Indian Equity Market:

On Thursday, NIFTY ended higher at 15,824 (+1.2%) as it closed near the intraday high level of 15,835. METAL (+3.0%), IT (+1.8%), and REALTY (+1.75%) led the sectoral gainers and there were no sectoral losers. Among the stocks, JSWSTEEL (+5.9%), TECHM (+5.4%), and BAJFINANCE (+4.2%) led the gainers while HINDUNILVR (-2.3%), ASIANPAINT (-1.8%), and BAJAJ-AUTO (-1.2%) led the losers.

Excerpts of an interview with Mr. C Vijayakumar, CEO & MD, and Mr. Prateek Aggarwal, CFO of HCL Technologies (HCLTECH) published with CNBC TV18 on 20th July 2021:

  • The company has seen a second consecutive quarter of revenue miss due to execution capabilities getting hit by the second Covid wave, and the company has a lot of concentration in NCR. As the revenue will recover in Q2FY22, the company is confident of the full year’s double-digit growth performance.
  • Speaking on segments, the products and platform segment has been disappointing for the last two quarters. The company expects a low single-digit growth for this segment, as around 25% of the products are either declining in nature or are being discontinued. IT services had a muted quarter, due to some executions and transitions in Europe that are taking longer than expected.
  • The company is expanding in new markets (geographically) categorized as Focus countries and New Frontier countries. The company has a reasonable presence in the countries under the Focus category and the growth rate will be higher than the company growth rate. New frontier countries are mid to long-term bets. These markets have to be built and are expected to give good outcomes in a couple of years.
  • The deals that the company has won are organic in nature, and a lot of them require to be built by hiring more talent, and onboarding them. The hiring of freshers could be more than the current guidance of 20,000-22,000. Speaking on salary hikes, the salaries are currently the same at entry-level, but the company expects to see a salary hike percentage in the next couple of years to be more than the rest of the company.
  • The company has accomplished a very good quality order book in the last 2 quarters, a lot of it being good long-term programs having annuity revenues, and are good capacity programs for digital transformation.

Asset Multiplier Comments

  • As the country recovers from execution capability-related issues caused by the second covid wave, the revenues can be expected to recover in FY22.
  • A strong order book that contributes to annuity revenues will position the company better in the mid to long term.

Consensus Estimate: (Source: market screener website)

  • The closing price of HCLTECH was ₹ 979/- as of 22-July-2021. It traded at 20x/17x/16x the consensus earnings estimate of ₹ 50/57/62 for FY22E/FY23E/FY24E respectively.
  • The consensus target price of ₹ 975/- implies a PE multiple of 16x on FY24E EPS of ₹ 62/-.

Disclaimer: “The views expressed are for information purposes only. The information provided herein should not be considered as investment advice or research recommendation. The users should rely on their own research and analysis and should consult their own investment advisors to determine the merit, risks, and suitability of the information provided.”