HCL Technologies
HCL Technologies is an IT services, engineering and digital transformation company that builds and runs software and technology systems for large corporate clients worldwide.
- P/E ~19x
- Record date 16 Oct 2026
- Div yield 4.4%
- 26.7% below Jan-2025 peak
- Debt-free
Updated on 15 Oct 2026 · Data as of 15 Oct 2026
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Snapshot
- Share price
- ₹1,358.10
- 15 Oct 2026
- 52-week range
- ₹1,023.75 – ₹1,679.96
- All-time peak
- ₹1,853.42
- 10 Jan 2025 · −26.7% from peak
- Dividend yield
- 4.42%
- Price history since
- 2002
- About 24 years of prices
What's happening
HCL Tech reported Q2 FY27 (quarter to September 2026) results on 12 October 2026: consolidated net profit rose 21% year-on-year to Rs 5,132 crore and revenue rose 11.5% to Rs 35,620 crore, with EBIT margin expanding to 18.2%. The board declared an interim dividend of Rs 12 per share, and the record date is 16 October 2026 - that is tomorrow from today's date, so anyone wanting this dividend needs to hold the stock before that cut-off. Management also raised FY27 constant-currency revenue growth guidance to 2.5-4%, up from 1-4% earlier.
In plain terms
The headline numbers this quarter are genuinely good - profit and revenue both grew at double-digit rates, and the company says deal bookings hit a record for any first half. The tension is that the stock is still down nearly 27% from its January 2025 high, because investors have spent the last year worried that AI could shrink the fees IT-services companies charge for traditional work. So you have a company executing well right now, sitting inside a sector the market still doesn't fully trust.
Quarters
Net profit has climbed every quarter this year: Rs 3,844 cr (Q1 FY26) -> Rs 4,236 cr (Q2 FY26) -> Rs 4,082 cr (Q3 FY26) -> Rs 4,490 cr (Q4 FY26) -> Rs 4,626 cr (Q1 FY27) -> Rs 5,132 cr (Q2 FY27). Revenue has also risen steadily, reaching Rs 35,620 crore in Q2 FY27. One source (Univest) reported a different Q2 FY27 PAT figure of Rs 4,302 crore - this is an outlier against the cluster of Screener, Business Standard and company-aligned reports that converge on Rs 5,132 crore, so it has been set aside. Management flagged that 'advanced AI' revenue reached $219 million, up 78% year-on-year, though this is still a small slice (roughly 6%) of the $3.7 billion quarterly revenue base - a high growth rate off a small number, not yet a transformation of the overall mix.
Performance
Heads-up on splits: HCL Technologies has split its shares or issued bonus shares before (most recently 2-for-1 on 5 Dec 2019, 2-for-1 on 19 Mar 2015 and 2-for-1 on 15 Mar 2007). A sudden price drop around a split date is usually just the price adjusting for the extra shares, not a crash.
Share price
−5.1% over 1 year
Returns by period
| Period | HCL Technologies | Nifty 50 | Tech Mahindra |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | +15.5% | −5.3% | +7.8% |
| 1 year | −5.1% | −10.0% | +15.7% |
| 3 years | +20.3% | +15.5% | +50.8% |
| 5 years | +36.8% | +23.4% | +31.0% |
₹100 invested on 18 Oct 2021 became…
- HCL Technologies₹137
- Nifty 50₹123
- Tech Mahindra₹131
The stock is down 26.7% from its all-time high of Rs 1,853.42 (10 January 2025) and sits roughly midway between its 52-week low (Rs 1,023.75) and high (Rs 1,679.96). Over 1 year it is down 5.1%, though that still beat the Nifty's 10% fall. Over 3 years it is up 20.3%, ahead of the Nifty (15.5%) but well behind peer TechM (50.8%) - a real relative underperformance versus that peer, not a reporting artifact. Over 5 years the stock (+36.8%) has beaten both the Nifty (+23.4%) and TechM (+31.0%). The three stock splits since 2007 (each 2-for-1) are ordinary bonus-style splits, not demergers, so they do not distort this return series or understate it - the drawdown from peak is a genuine price decline, driven by sector-wide concerns rather than any corporate action.
Dividend
Paid in the last 12 months
₹60.00 per share
Dividend yield
4.42%
Dividend yield is the last 12 months of dividends divided by today's share price. A 4.4% yield means every ₹100 of HCL Technologies shares paid about ₹4.4 in dividends over the past year. Past payouts can change.
Recent dividends
| Date | Per share |
|---|---|
| 17 Jul 2026 | ₹12.00 |
| 24 Apr 2026 | ₹24.00 |
| 16 Jan 2026 | ₹12.00 |
| 17 Oct 2025 | ₹12.00 |
| 18 Jul 2025 | ₹12.00 |
| 28 Apr 2025 | ₹18.00 |
| 17 Jan 2025 | ₹18.00 |
| 22 Oct 2024 | ₹12.00 |
Valuation
The stock trades around 19x trailing earnings, which is actually below the IT sector's median P/E of roughly 22.7x despite HCL Tech's ROE (23.8%) and ROCE (30.4%) running well above sector medians (10.6% and 12.9% respectively). Why it looks cheap relative to peers: the market is discounting future growth because of AI-led pricing deflation fears across IT services, not because HCL Tech's current profitability is weak - the two are separate questions, and the valuation gap reflects doubt about durability of growth, not a hidden flaw in today's numbers.
Growth
Growth this quarter was both volume- and margin-led, which is the more durable combination: revenue rose 11.5% YoY on genuine business expansion (record $3.3 billion first-half bookings, up 27% YoY, and clients above $100 million rising from 17 to 23), while EBIT margin simultaneously expanded 71 basis points YoY to 18.2%, partly on a richer mix of higher-margin AI work. This is not a case of flat volumes propped up by cost-cutting.
Health
Profits are converting into cash: FY26 operating cash flow was around Rs 19,975 crore against a full-year PAT of roughly Rs 16,650 crore, and the company holds a net cash balance sheet with minimal debt. Free cash flow for FY26 (~Rs 18,550 crore) was down about 12% from FY25 - worth watching but not alarming given cash generation still comfortably exceeds reported profit. The real risk here is business risk (whether demand and pricing hold up as AI reshapes the services market), not financial risk - the balance sheet itself is clean.
Ownership
Promoters hold 60.88% (as of June 2026), with Vama Sundari Investments (Delhi) Pvt Ltd the largest single holder at 44.23%; reported promoter pledging is nil. Foreign institutional investors have been trimming their stake, down from about 19.15% in March 2025 to roughly 14.9% by June 2026, a sustained outflow that lines up with the sector-wide AI-disruption worries noted above. Domestic institutions have been adding over the same period. There is no well-known marquee individual investor on the shareholder register worth flagging.
The View
The one thing to watch
Whether HCL Tech's FY27 constant-currency revenue growth (guided at 2.5-4%) holds or beats that range over the next 2-3 quarters, and whether advanced-AI revenue keeps scaling fast enough to offset pricing pressure in legacy services - that trajectory is what will settle the market's current discount.
Strengths
- +Q2 FY27 net profit up 21% YoY to Rs 5,132 crore on revenue up 11.5% to Rs 35,620 crore
- +Record first-half deal bookings of $3.3 billion, up 27% YoY, with $100mn+ clients rising from 17 to 23 over the year
- +Advanced AI revenue of $219 million, up 78% YoY, alongside EBIT margin expansion of 71 bps YoY to 18.2%
- +Net cash balance sheet, almost debt-free, with FY26 operating cash flow (~Rs 19,975 crore) comfortably exceeding reported profit
Watchpoints
- !Stock remains 26.7% below its January 2025 peak despite consistently strong quarters - the market has not yet been convinced the growth is durable
- !FII holding has fallen from ~19% to ~14.9% over roughly a year, a sustained institutional outflow tied to sector-wide AI-disruption concerns
- !Peer TechM has outperformed HCL Tech by a wide margin over 3 years (+50.8% vs +20.3%), suggesting relative, not absolute, laggard status in that window
- !Advanced AI revenue, though growing fast, is still only ~6% of quarterly revenue - the bulk of the business remains traditional IT services exposed to pricing pressure
How sure are we about the data? · Moderate-High
Quarterly PAT and revenue figures were cross-checked across Screener, Business Standard, Investing.com and multiple news outlets, which converge on Rs 5,132 crore PAT and Rs 35,620 crore revenue for Q2 FY27; one outlier figure (Rs 4,302 crore PAT, from Univest) was set aside as inconsistent with this cluster. P/B ratio showed minor variance across sources (4.2x vs 4.83x) depending on book-value basis used - not independently resolved, flagged for the reader. Dividend record date (16 Oct 2026) and FY27 guidance figures are sourced from company press coverage of the 12 October 2026 earnings call. Free cash flow and cash balance figures are sourced from third-party aggregators (Alpha Spread, Stockopedia) rather than the primary filing and should be treated as approximate.
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Ticker Tales is not a SEBI-registered investment adviser or research analyst. This report is for learning only and is not investment advice. Data as of 15 Oct 2026.