Barclays Cuts Infosys Ratings To 'Equal Weight'; Shares Trading Low On Disappointing Quarterly Results

Spelling more trouble for India's second largest IT exporter Infosys, Barclays Capital cut its ratings for the company's shares to equal weight from overweight, citing disappointing first quarter earnings.

Barclays also cut its target price on the Infosys shares to Rs 2,300 from Rs 3,010.

Full year guidance still implies aggressive growth going forward, which could be underestimating risks, Barclays said in a statement.

India's blue-chip IT company earned a consolidated net profit of Rs 22.89 billion for the first quarter of 2012-13 fiscal year against a net profit of Rs 17.2 billion a year earlier. Analysts expected a net profit of Rs 23 billion for the company. In dollar terms, the net profit rose 8.3 percent annually to $416 million.

The company cut its revenue forecasts for the FY2013 to $7.34 billion from the previous guidance of $7.55 billion to $7.69 billion.

Reacting to its first quarter results, Infosys shares dropped 8 to 9 percent on the Bombay Stock Exchange and 9 to 10 percent on the National Stock Exchange in the morning session Thursday, showing the market's disappointment. The shares continued to slide for the second day in a row Friday and were trading 1.92 percent down at Rs 2,221.65 on the BSE.