How Wipro, HCL Tech shares reacted to Q2 results?
IT heavyweights Wipro and HCL Technologies released their September quarter earnings post market hours on Wednesday. Reacting to Q2 results, shares of Wipro declined as much as 6% to hit a 52-week low in early trade, while HCL Technologies share price rose nearly 4% on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). In comparison, the S&P BSE Information Technology index was down 0.85%, while BSE benchmark Sensex dropped 233 points to 57,392 levels.
Wipro shares opened 4.35% lower at ₹390 against the previous closing price of ₹404.75 on the BSE. Extending opening losses, the largecap IT stock fell as much as 6% to touch its 52-week low of ₹383.25 amid a surge in selling activities. In the first hour of trade so far, 5.07 lakh shares changed hands over the counter on the BSE, against the two-week average volume of 5.22 lakh scrips. The market capitalisation dropped to ₹2,11,138.50 crore. The stock trades 48% lower than its hit 52-week high of 739.80 touched on October 14, 2021. On a year-to-date basis, the stock has fallen 46%, while it has dropped nearly 9% in the past one month.
Meanwhile, HCL Technologies share price opened higher for the second straight session and gained as much as 3.8% to hit a high of ₹987.75 on the BSE. On the volume front, 1.24 lakh shares changed hands over the counter as against the two-week average volume of 2.66 lakh stocks. The shares of IT heavyweight move higher than 5-day, 20-day, 50-day, and 100-day moving averages, but lower than 200-day averages. The stock hit a 52-week high of ₹1,359 on January 13, 2022, and a 52-week low of ₹875.65 on August 29, 2022.
Among others, TCS, the country’s largest software exporter, was also down 1%, while Infosys and Mindtree were also under stress, falling up to 1% ahead of their quarterly earnings report.
Wipro shares took a hit on the second quarter earnings report that came up shy of the market expectations. The consolidated net profit dropped 9% to ₹2,659 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2022, from ₹ 2,930 crore in the same period last fiscal. The consolidated revenue from operations rose 14.6% to ₹22,540 crore in the second quarter of FY23 compared with ₹19,667 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal. Operating margin of Wipro's IT services segment for the quarter was at 15.1%, an increase of 16 basis points quarter-on-quarter.
On the other hand, HCL Technologies shares surged as investors cheered its quarterly earnings and dividend payout. The IT major posted a 7.05% growth in its July-September quarter profit at ₹3,489 crore, from ₹3,259 core during the same period last year, led by strong demand for cloud, engineering, and digital services. The company's revenue from operations grew 19.5% on a year-on-year basis to ₹24,686 crore, while the constant current revenue rose by 15% YoY. The HCL Tech board has also announced a dividend of ₹10 per share, the 79th consecutive quarter of dividend payout by the company. The record date for the payment of the interim dividend is October 20, 2022, while the payment will be made on November 2, 2022.