Infosys gains highest since 1997 as Dec earnings beat estimates

“While the unchanged fiscal guidance surprised the Street, even the topline growth for the quarter beat muted expectations that were based on the company's tone about a month back before it went into silent mode,” said an analyst tracking the company.

India's second biggest IT provider clocked in a sequential growth of 4.2% in its organic revenue compared to analyst expectations that topped at about 2%.

The company reported a q-o-q dollar revenue growth of 6.3% to $1.9 billion, including that from the Landsotne acquisition. It also reported an Ebit margin erosion of 66 bps due to offshore wage hikes and shutdowns compared to Street expectations that averaged to a decline of 85 bps.

Contrary to the Street expectations, Infosys maintained its FY13 organic dollar revenue growth guidance of 5% y-o-y and guided for $7.45-billion revenues in the period, including Lodestone revenues of $104 million, indicating a 6.5% y-o-y increase. This also implies a 2.8% sequential growth in the quarter ending March 2013. Experts were largely anticipating the company to reduce its 2012-13 guidance as low as 3.3% y-o-y growth.

According to Barclays Capital, Infosys has signalled a turn in the trajectory of revenue growth as the company has been showing more aggression on winning near

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