Shares of HCL Technologies Ltd. gained over 7% on Friday, July 3, after brokerage firm CLSA reiterated its bullish stance on the IT major, naming it among its top large-cap picks despite lowering its price target.
CLSA maintained its 'Outperform' rating on HCLTech but revised its target price to ₹1,202 from ₹1,519.
According to the brokerage, HCLTech's management has consistently been ahead of peers in embracing artificial intelligence.
It highlighted several industry-first initiatives undertaken by the company, including being the first Indian IT services firm to flag AI-driven pricing deflation during its August 2024 analyst meeting, partnering with OpenAI in June 2025, and becoming the first among domestic IT peers to disclose revenue generated from advanced AI offerings.
CLSA also pointed to HCLTech's strategic investment in Sarvam AI and noted that the company is the only major Indian IT player that has openly stated it does not penalise its sales teams for passing AI-driven productivity gains on to clients, even if it results in lower deal values.
The brokerage expects HCLTech to maintain its FY27 revenue growth and margin guidance despite the near-term demand environment.
Historically, the brokerage said, HCLTech has generated an average return of 20% during the combined second and third quarters over the past eight years, while the first and fourth quarters have typically delivered an average return of -3%.
CLSA also believes HCLTech has the potential to remain the fastest-growing large-cap IT services company globally for a fourth consecutive year.