Tata group's Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday surpassed Accenture to became the most-valuable information technology (IT) services company in the world as its share closed with over 3% gains following the announcement of a mega-Rs 16,000 crore buyback plan at Rs 3,000 per equity share.
The stock closed at Rs 2,824.80, up 3.19% on the BSE. During the day, it rose by 5.3% to Rs 2,885 -- its record high.
On the NSE, it jumped 3.02% to close at Rs 2,818.45.
The company's market valuation also rose by Rs 32,796.63 crore to Rs 10,59,973.63 crore on the BSE.
At the last closing price of Rs 2,825, TCS was valued at $144.73 billion while Accenture is currently valued at $142.4 billion, Business Standard reported. IBM’s market cap is $110.5 billion.
The company's share price came down on Friday, with currently being traded at Rs 2,799.55, down Rs 26.15 or 0.93%.
In traded volume terms, 6.93 lakh shares were traded at the BSE and over 1.98 crore units on the NSE during the day on Thursday.
"TCS impressed with revenue growth of 4.8% quarter-on-quarter. Broad-based growth across geographies and verticals indicates healthy recovery across segments," said a report by Motilal Oswal Research.
In 2017 and 2018 too, TCS had undertaken buyback offers of similar sizes.
The board of directors of the company has approved a proposal to buyback up to 5,33,33,333 equity shares of the company for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 16,000 crore, being 1.42% of the total paid-up equity share capital at Rs 3,000 per equity share, TCS said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
The buyback will be conducted via a tender offer route using the stock exchange mechanism, it added. TCS had on Wednesday reported a 6.87% dip in the September quarter net at Rs 7,504 crore but said the demand has recovered faster than projected and will be sustainable going forward as well.
It had to set aside Rs 1,218 crore as provisions because of the trade secrets lawsuit filed by Epic Systems, if not the net profit would have grown 4.9% to Rs 8,433 crore.
Revenues for the July-September period came at Rs 40,135 crore, up 3% when compared to the year-ago period, and its chief executive and managing director Rajesh Gopinathan said the Rs 40,000 crore-mark was reached one quarter ahead of what was expected at the start of the pandemic and stressed that the company is in the midst of a "sustainable demand recovery".
It is confident about the demand recovery, which "stands on stronger legs", but the prevailing economic climate and realities on the health front make it "cautious", Gopinathan said.
Other IT stocks like Wipro, HCL Tech, Infosys and Tech Mahindra also closed with up to 7.2% gains.
(With PTI inputs)
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