HCLTech Shares Surge 4% to Lead Nifty 50 Gainers on Robust Q2 Profit and AI Momentum

Shares of IT services giant HCL Technologies Ltd (HCLTech) surged more than 4% in morning trade on Tuesday, touching an intraday high of ₹1,275 on the BSE to emerge as the top gainer on the benchmark Nifty 50. The rally followed the company's strong July–September (Q2 FY27) earnings report, which surpassed market expectations on profitability and operational margins while showcasing accelerating momentum in artificial intelligence (AI) engagements.

The stock, which closed at ₹1,223 on Monday, witnessed strong buying interest from the opening bell, boosting sentiment across the broader information technology sector.

Q2 Earnings Beat Street Estimates

HCLTech reported a consolidated net profit of ₹5,132 crore for the second quarter, marking a 21.2% increase year-on-year from ₹4,235 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year and an 11% rise quarter-on-quarter. The bottom-line performance comfortably outpaced Street estimates, which had pegged profit around ₹4,859 crore to ₹4,875 crore.

Revenue from operations rose 11.5% year-on-year to ₹35,620 crore, compared with ₹34,579 crore recorded in the preceding quarter. In constant currency terms, revenue rose 2.3% sequentially and 2.6% year-on-year.

Key Operating Highlights for Q2:

• Consolidated net profit stood at ₹5,132 crore, up 21.2% YoY.
• Revenue from operations rose to ₹35,620 crore, up 11.5% YoY and 3% QoQ.
• Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) increased 10.9% sequentially to ₹6,465 crore.
• Operating EBIT margin expanded by 140 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 18.1%, beating consensus estimates.

Guidance Upgrade and Strong Deal TCV

Bolstered by deal ramp-ups and solid demand visibility, HCLTech revised the lower bound of its full-year constant-currency revenue growth guidance. The company now projects FY27 revenue growth of 2.5% to 4%, tightening its earlier forecast band of 1% to 4%. It maintained its full-year EBIT margin band at 17.5% to 18.5%.

Total contract value (TCV) of new deal bookings came in at $3.26 billion for the quarter, compared to $2.4 billion in Q1 and $2.57 billion in the year-ago period. The order book was anchored by a major $1.14 billion multi-year engagement with German luxury car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz.

AI Strategy and Ecosystem Expansions

Investor sentiment was further buoyed by the management's disclosure on AI revenues and expanded partnerships. Revenue from advanced AI offerings jumped 28.4% quarter-on-quarter to $219 million, pushing the company's annualized AI run rate to $876 million.

Ahead of its earnings release, HCLTech also announced an expanded strategic collaboration with Anthropic, setting up a dedicated business unit to build agentic AI solutions and accelerate enterprise deployment of Claude models. Management indicated that AI services work is commanding margins roughly 7% to 10% higher than the corporate baseline, helping insulate profitability against pricing pressures elsewhere in legacy IT operations.

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