Results reason is around the corner, with IT bellwether TCS ready to kick off the earnings season on January 9, Monday next week. A handful of IT earnings will follow including that of Infosys, HCL Technologies and Cyient on January 12 and Wipro on January 13.
December is historically a weak quarter for IT firms, thanks to higher furloughs. But this time around, macro challenges could also hit demand in many verticals. Analysts largely expect the quarter to be subdued for IT biggies in revenue terms. They see Infosys as their best pick in the IT pack, for now.
The top five IT firms, except for Tech Mahindra (down 4-6 per cent YoY), are seen reporting positive year-on-year growth in profit on single-digit growth in dollar revenues .
HDFC Bank will be the first bank to report December quarter results on January 14. Brokerage Angel One would report quarter results in January 16; ICICI Lombard and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company will report quarterly results on January 17.
"In the absence of major economic triggers, the domestic market shifted its focus towards the Q3 earnings season. Banks' initial quarterly business updates revealed solid business traction supported by robust loan growth. IT and banks will take centre stage in the coming days, as the trend will be determined by early signals from the sector majors," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Midcap IT firm Persistent Systems is due to report December quarter results on January 18. Asian Paints, L&T Technology Services and Mphasis would announce Q3 earnings on January 19; and HDFC Life and JSW Steel on January 20.
ICICI Bank (January 21), HDFC AMC (January 24), Bajaj Auto (January 25), Cipla (January 25), Dr Reddy's Labs (January 25), Bajaj Finance (January 27), Bajaj Finserv (January 30) and Bajaj Holdings (January 30) would be some of the key December quarter earnings due later month.
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