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Informist, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Cognizant's Oct-Dec net profit rises 18% to $648 million

 

MUMBAI--0940 IST--Cognizant Technology Solutions reported a net profit of $648 million for the fourth quarter, up 18% on year and its top line rose nearly 5% to $5.3 billion from a year earlier. The US-based company follows a calendar year system for its financial results. The rise in earnings is a positive for domestic IT players as it signals higher discretionary spending by US-based clients in the banking and financial services vertical, several brokerages said.

 

Shares of Wipro and Infosys were trading slightly higher, while those of HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra traded in the red.

 

In constant currency terms, the company's revenue rose 3.8% on year. Cognizant had earlier guided for a bottom line between $5.27 billion–$5.33 billion for the quarter. Revenue growth for the quarter was fully organic and driven by strong traction in North America, according to the company's management. Its financial services segment led the growth for the quarter, growing 7% on year on a constant currency basis in 2025. The company's management said it was confident of continuing the revenue growth momentum in 2026 on the back of strong deal signings and a strong deal pipeline.  

 

The company's fourth quarter adjusted earnings before interest and tax margin was up 30 basis points sequentially to 16%, but flat sequentially. Its utilisation of 83% was down 200 bps sequentially and up 100 bps on year. After its results, the company decided to roll out 100% bonus pay for 2025 after entering what it calls the "Winner's Circle", an internal benchmark of top-tier industry performance, two years ahead of its stated target, Moneycontrol reported.  (Eshitva Prakash)

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Equity Alert: Life Insurance Corp rises 1% ahead of December qtr earnings

 

MUMBAI--0929 IST--Shares of Life Insurance Corp. of India rose nearly 1% to a high of INR 840.55 in early trade ahead of its December quarter earnings scheduled to be announced later in the day. The stock is up after falling during the previous session. At 0923 IST, shares of the company were at INR 837 on the National Stock Exchange, slightly higher from their previous close. The stock has fallen over 9% since Nov. 6, when it detailed its September quarter earnings.

 

The insurance behemoth is estimated to report a net profit of INR 132.78 billion for the December quarter, up 20% on year and 32% on quarter, according to Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. This growth is on the back of the insurer's assets under management, which is likely to grow 8% to INR 59 trillion by the end of December, the brokerage said.

 

The company is expected to see an annualised premium equivalent of INR 112.75 billion, up 13% on year but 31% down sequentially, for the December quarter, according to Motilal Oswal. The insurer's annualised premium equivalent is driven by value of new business, which is estimated to grow 10% on year and decline 33% on quarter to INR 21.20 billion for the December quarter, as per the brokerage.

 

Its value for new business margins are expected to fall to 18.8% for the reporting quarter against 19.4% in the year-ago quarter and 19.3% in the September quarter. "VNB (value for new business) margins to decline due to loss of input tax credit on policies, while absolute VNB to grow in double digits. LIC is expected to see VNB YoY margin expansion," Motilal Oswal said in its pre-earnings note.

 

The insurer's comments on growth outlook and acquisition of a health insurance company are a few key areas to monitor, according to the brokerage.

 

All five brokerage reports on the company available with Informist have a ‘buy' or equivalent recommendation with an average target price of INR 1,099 apiece. This is over 31% higher than the current market price. (Shweta)

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Equity Alert: Seen in range; IT cos may fall on fears of competition from AI

 

MUMBAI--0834 IST--Benchmark equity indices are expected to remain in a range Thursday and are likely to consolidate for a few sessions after rising sharply on Tuesday. After another decline in US software companies overnight, domestic information technology players will be in focus. The Reserve Bank of India is likely to keep rates on hold and maintain its neutral stance at its policy meeting on Friday.

 

Investors will focus on information technology companies after a deep sell-off in the prior session due to worries about artificial intelligence companies hurting sales of core software developers and business models based on outsourcing. Overnight, the American depository receipts of Infosys extended losses and were down over 3%, while those of Wipro closed flat. Traders also built fresh short positions in most IT stocks Wednesday, indicating further downside Thursday. 

 

The GIFT Nifty 50 indicates a muted start for the Nifty 50. At 0835 IST, the February contract of the Gift Nifty was at 25813 points, up just 37 points from the Nifty 50's close on Wednesday. In the previous session, the Nifty 50 index closed at 25776 points, up 48.45 points, or 0.2%, and the BSE Sensex closed at 83817.69, up 78.56 points, or 0.1%. 

 

Among specific stocks, Trent will be in focus after the company's net profit for the quarter rose to INR 6.40 billion, higher than estimates. However, its top line missed the Street's consensus estimate despite a near 16% rise on year. Nuvama Institutional Equities has cut its target price on the company by over 12%. The brokerage is sceptical about the same-store sales growth for the company. Investors will also focus on the December quarter earnings of Bharti Airtel, Max Healthcare Institute, and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, due later in the day.

 

Except the Dow Jones Industrial Average, indices in the US ended lower overnight after shares of semiconductor chip-makers fell. Software companies were also under pressure after Anthropic's recent AI agent release left investors worried about the prospects of software developers, Reuters said in a report. Indices in Asia were also lower in early trade Thursday, following the decline on Wall Street. South Korea's KOSPI was the worst hit among the pack and was down nearly 3% on a fall in chip heavyweights.  (Eshitva Prakash)

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Equity Alert: Asian markets lower tracking tech sell-off on Wall Street

 

MUMBAI--0826 IST--Equity indices in Asia were largely lower in early session, tracking their US counterparts amid a sell-off in technology stocks. The KOSPI could not insulate itself against the weakness seen by the tech sector for this session and was trading nearly 3% lower, while also leading the losses in the region. This comes after the recent sell-off in technology stocks as investors are concerned over the disruption of artificial intelligence on software companies. The sell-off was triggered after AI developer Anthropic launched plug-in for its 'Claude Cowork', which automates tasks across legal sales, marketing, and data analytics. 

 

Disappointing earnings forecast for the March quarter from Advanced Micro Devices didn't help matters, with the stock plunging 17% in the US. In South Korea, fall in shares of chipmakers Samsung and SK Hynix, down nearly 5?ch, along with those of Hanwha Aerospace Co. falling over 5%, weighed on the KOSPI index. The index fell below 5300 points after closing above the level for the first time during the previous session, The Chosun Daily reported. "This is analysed to be influenced by the underperformance of U.S. semiconductor-related stocks, as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 4.36% on the New York stock market overnight," the South Korean publication said. 

 

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index extended losses for its second session. Shares of SoftBank Group Corp. were down over 6% during the session after its chip designer company Arm Holdings' December quarter licencing sales missed estimates. However, shares of Panasonic were up over 9?spite the company reporting worse-than-estimated results for its net profit and revenue for the December quarter, CNBC reported. Its adjusted net profit did increase to 159.10 billion yen or $1.03 billion, rising nearly 6% from the year-ago quarter. The adjusted operating profit excludes restructuring costs of 129.30 billion yen or $824.29 million. The TOPIX First Section index was also seen lower after touching a fresh high during the session.

 

Following are the levels of key Asian indices at 0824 IST:

 

INDEX	LEVEL	CHANGE IN %
CSI 300 Index	4660.30	(-)0.82
Hang Seng Index	26622.25	(-)0.84
KOSPI	5211.66	(-)2.97
Nikkei 225 Day	53898.35	(-)0.73
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3651.67	(-)0.11
FTSE Singapore Straits Times	4955.07	(-)0.21
S&P/ASX 200 Index	8900.60	(-)0.30
IDX Composite	8176.86	0.37

 

(Akshat Saksena)

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Equity Alert: US Indices end largely lower, tech stocks weigh on markets

 

MUMBAI--0745 IST--Major US equity indices ended lower on Wednesday, barring the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Shares of some software companies continued to face pressure, extending losses from the previous trading session along with artificial intelligence-affiliated stocks, as Wall Street questions whether the rally in AI has reached its summit. 

 

Shares of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, fell over 2% ahead of the company's quarterly results after the session closed. The company beat expectations of its December quarter results, earning revenue of $113.83 billion, up 18% on year, against an estimate of $111.43 billion by LSEG, CNBC reported. The company said it expects capital expenditure of $175 billion to $185 billion in 2026, with the top end of the forecast being double the capital expenditure in 2025. The company's expenditure plans will be made towards its AI compute capacity for Google DeepMind to meet a high cloud customer demand as well as strategic investments in other areas, Anat Ashkenazi, finance chief of Alphabet, was reported as saying. The capital expenditure will be used to "improve the user experience and drive higher advertiser ROI (Return-on-investment) in Google services," she added. The finance chief of the company also said the advertising results were negatively affected due to the lapping of the high expenditure on the US elections for the December quarter of 2024.

 

Advanced Micro devices fell over 17?ter the company's revenue forecast for the next quarter disappointed investors, with the company suggesting it was having a tough time competing against NVIDIA, Reuters reported. However, the company beat expectations for its December quarter results with its revenue coming in at $10.27 billion against an estimate of $9.67 billion by LSEG, CNBC reported. For the next quarter, the company said it expects revenue of $9.8 billion, give or take $300 million, against expectations of $9.38 billion. Even this, however, disappointed some analysts who were expecting stronger guidance as customers continue to ramp-up spending on chips to power AI models, CNBC said.

 

Shares of Palantir fell nearly 12?ter the sharp rise in the previous session on the back of strong quarterly numbers. "The size of the infrastructure buildout is unprecedented, and the pace of consumers and businesses adopting AI tools is also unprecedented. The stock market is having a really hard knowing where to price the stocks and what the future looks like. ... The market is suddenly sceptical and concerned about it," Jed Ellerbroek, a portfolio manager at Argent Capital in St. Louis, was reported as saying by Reuters. 

 

Shares of a few software companies such as Oracle and Crowd Strike, down over 5% and 1.5%, respectively, extended their losses from the previous session. Despite the weakness seen in the sector, shares of Microsoft found some stability as the stock ended nearly 1% higher. "If you've got legacy software that's old and clunky, you're a ripe target for AI. We're a bit bearish on software in general, with the whole impetus of AI," Josh Chastant, portfolio manager, public investments at GuideStone Funds, was reported as saying by Reuters.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Wednesday:  

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6882.72	(-)0.51
NASDAQ Composite	55904.58	(-)1.51
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49501.30	0.53

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 90.41

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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