Happiest Minds Technologies shares corrected nearly 2 percent on January 19 after the IT services company posted weak operating performance for quarter ended December FY23. The stock closed at Rs 867 on the NSE, down 1.65 percent.
For the December FY23 quarter, Happiest Minds recorded a 3.1 percent sequential decline in profit at Rs 57.6 crore, impacted largely due to exceptional loss related to the fair valuation of Happiest Minds Inc (erstwhile PGS Inc) acquired in January 2021 but was supported by higher other income.
The operating performance was weak for the quarter, as EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) fell 1.6 percent QoQ to Rs 79.5 crore and margin dropped 1 percentage point to 21.7 percent, partly hit by employee and finance costs.
Consolidated revenue from operations for the quarter at Rs 366.9 crore was up 3.2 percent over the previous quarter. The growth in revenue in dollar terms stood at 2.1 percent on a sequential basis, with constant currency growth at 2.8 percent for the quarter ended December FY23.
Happiest Minds increased its active clients to 230 at the end of December FY23, up from 226 clients as of December FY23.
Technicals
The stock has been making a bearish candle on the daily charts, especially after the earnings were released, but respected long upward sloping support trend line adjoining June 20 and December 23, 2022, which is a good sign.
The stock has not fallen below the low of the previous big bullish candle formed on December 26, 2022, which is another positive sign, though it has been trading well below all short and long-term moving averages (9 DEMA, 21 DEMA, 50 DEMA, 100 DEMA and 200 DEMA), which is in line with the nervousness facing the entire sector due to the fear of a recession and consistent policy tightening by global central banks to tame inflation.
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