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Infosys (INFY) to Report Q1 Earnings: What's in the Offing?

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Infosys Limited (INFY - Free Report) is scheduled to report first-quarter fiscal 2021 results on Jul 15.

Over the trailing four quarters, the company’s earnings came in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate on two occasions, beat in another and missed in the other, the average positive surprise being 0.00%.

In the last reported quarter, the company’s adjusted earnings of 14 cents per share came in a penny higher than the year-ago figure and matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Though revenues of $3.2 billion increased 4.5% year over year, the reported figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.3 billion.

For the fiscal first quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $2.96 billion, suggesting a 5.6% decline from the year-ago reported figure. The consensus mark for earnings is pinned at 12 cents, calling for a decline of 7.7% year on year.
 

Let’s see how things have shaped up prior to this announcement.

Key Factors

Business disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic might have had a limited impact on Infosys’ fiscal first-quarter performance, as the company had successfully shifted its global workforce to remote working from in-office facilities.

During the fourth-quarter fiscal 2020 earnings call, the company had noted that more than 93% of its global workforce has been working from home in countries, which are still under lockdown, and in Infosys offices wherever possible. This reflects that the firm managed to run its operations smoothly despite the global lockdown situation.

Furthermore, Infosys’ quarterly performance is likely to have benefited from large deal wins and growth in digital services. The company’s efforts to reinforce the digital-transformation capabilities for expanding and solidifying its position in the highly competitive environment are a steady tailwind.

Moreover, stellar demand for cloud, IoT, security, and data-analytics solutions and services is expected to have driven the company’s quarterly revenues. Also, higher investments by clients in digital transformation, artificial intelligence and automation are anticipated to have been conducive to its fiscal first-quarter performance.

Although headwinds in the financial services segment are still a concern, growing traction in the commercial and corporate bank, consumer, cost and payments, wealth management and custody, plus mortgage portfolios of its business is an upside.

Nonetheless, higher employee compensation to counter the rising attrition might have strained the fiscal first-quarter operating margin. In addition, inflated investments in sales and localization, and escalating costs to grab large deals are expected to have hurt Infosys’ bottom-line numbers during the quarter under discussion.

What Our Model Says

Our proven model does not predict an earnings beat for Infosys this season. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP, and Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold), increases the chances of an earnings beat. But that’s not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell, before they’re reported, with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Infosys currently carries a Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) and has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies, which, per our model, have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their soon-to-be-reported quarterly results:

Fastenal Company (FAST - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +7.89% and currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Domino's Pizza, Inc. (DPZ - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +12.27% and carries a Zacks Rank of 2, at present.

Abbott Laboratories (ABT - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +7.48% and carries a Zacks Rank of 2, currently.

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