Oh, Infosys (Nasdaq: INFY), how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
First, like so many other stocks that have been mercilessly beaten down in the past year, Infosys itself looks rock solid despite the worldwide financial chaos. CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan takes the long view, positioning the company to "emerge stronger when the global economy starts recovering." That strategy sounds exactly right, thanks to a sterling balance sheet with $1.9 billion of liquid assets and no debt. Even if profits were to evaporate tomorrow (they won't, by the way), Infosys can afford to stare down a few lean years.
Second, there's overall hope for Hindustan even in these dark times. While accounting scandals at Satyam (NYSE: SAY) and Wipro (NYSE: WIT) are making Indian IT consulting firms look like Enron in a sari, Infosys carries the torch with a steady hand. The third quarter of 2009 saw sales grow 8% year over year to $1.17 billion, and earnings per ADS jumped from $0.55 to $0.58. Of course, nobody would call the entire nation corrupt, but you have to admit that the steady-as-she-goes success of Infosys makes the Foolish heart beat a bit more strongly when you're looking at promising regional neighbors like Sterlite Industries (NYSE: SLT).
And third, this company's strong performance despite a free-falling rupee points to a generally strong sector. Everybody still needs technology consulting services, and possibly even more so in a weak economy than in a strong one. IT outsourcing seems to have fallen out of favor in recent years, but it is a tried-and-true cost-cutting technique that makes sense when budgets are tight. Moreover, big tech shops would be wise to call in some third-party cavalry once in a while to tighten up sprawling system architectures -- and independent consultants with massive resources of their own fit that bill to a T. Besides Infosys and what remains of its Indian competitors, this also spells good news for American alternatives like Accenture (NYSE: ACN), good old IBM (NYSE: IBM), and newly invigorated Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ).
So, there you have it. One report shines a healthy light on Infosys, on the rest of India, and on the global technology services market. Poetry in motion, indeed.
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