The U.S.-listed shares of Infosys Ltd. INFY rallied 2.1% in premarket trading Thursday, after the India-based digital services and consulting company reported fiscal third-quarter revenue topped forecasts and profit that matched. Net income for the quarter to Dec. 31 rose to $800 million, or 19 cents a share, from $774 million, or 18 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue grew 9.6% to $4.66 billion. The FactSet consensus was for earnings per share of 19 cents and revenue of $4.61 billion. Cost of sales increased 13.1% to $3.23 billion, as gross margin contracted to 30.7% from 32.8%. Separately, the company said it started buying back stock in early-December, and has repurchased 31.3 million shares for the equivalent of about $600 million. The stock has gained 6.0% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has rallied 11.0%.
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