Mumbai, July 12: Even though some companies have already announced first quarter financials, it is the Infosys results day that is traditionally been seen as the beginning of the results season.
However, the company presents a big problem for the lay investor, who can easily be lost in the reams and reams of numbers Infosys gives out — everything from sales, operating profit, attrition, split amongst different regions and businesses — and many many more.
The most important number from the maze however, is the guidance given out by the firm, says Mr Ambreesh Baliga of Karvy. The company usually errs on the side of conservatism, he says. Another important nu-mber to watch out for will be hiring — the number of new employees added by the company. This will indicate whether the order flow is robust or not, he adds.
“Detailed numbers given out by the company are important because we make our models based on these,” says Mr Ramanathan K of ING Investment Manage-ment. Amongst the pile of numbers, he feels that the critical figures are volume growth, attrition rate and the movements amongst various currencies.
Mr Saurav Arora of Jaypee Capital feels the importance of Infosys is more symbolic of Infosys as a leader and people look up to it not for the profits it earns but for its corporate governance.
Infosys was earlier watc-hed more closely because it was the first result of the season, says a Mumbai based fund manager. Now however, its importance is primarily as the trendsetter for big IT firms.