Shares of Persistent Systems Ltd. dropped over 7% on Friday to the lowest in over a week after its consolidated net profit fell in the first quarter of the current financial year.
The IT services firm's profit declined 2.9% sequentially to Rs 306 crore in the quarter ended June, according to an exchange filing.
Persistent Q1 FY25 Highlights (Consolidated, QoQ)
Revenue up 5.7% to Rs 2,737 crore versus Rs 2,590 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 2,711 crore).
EBIT up 2.5% to Rs 384 crore versus Rs 375 crore (Bloomberg estimate: Rs 379 crore).
EBIT margin at 14% versus 14.5% (Estimates: 13.9%)
Net profit down 2.9% at Rs 306 crore versus Rs 315 crore (Estimate: Rs 303.4 crore)
On the NSE, Persistent's stock fell as much as 7.38% in early trade to Rs 4,535 apiece, the lowest since July 11. It was trading 4.71% lower at Rs 4,665.75 per share, compared to a 0.48% decline in the benchmark Nifty at 10:16 a.m.
The share price has gained 95.35% in the last 12 months and 25.52% on a year-to-date basis. The total traded volume so far in the day stood at 1.03 times its 30-day average. The relative strength index was at 60.90.
Seventeen out of the 36 analysts tracking the company have a 'buy' rating on the stock, eight recommend 'hold' and 11 suggest 'sell', according to Bloomberg data. The average of 12-month analyst price targets implies a potential downside of 16.2%.