• Infosys Technologies (Nasdaq: INFY) – ‘Neutral’
• Wipro (NYSE: WIT) – ‘Neutral’
• Satyam (NYSE: SAY) – ‘Buy’
• Patni Computer Systems (NYSE: PTI) – ‘Sell’

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New Ratings: Wipro initiated with “neutral weight”

Analyst Bryan C Keane of Prudential Financial initiated coverage on Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT) with a “neutral weight” rating. The target price is set to $14.

In a research note published yesterday, the analyst mentioned that Wipro’s sustained success in entry into more services is expected to keep the company’s revenue growth healthy over the forthcoming years. Wipro has made six acquisitions since December 2005, which are estimated to add $17 million to revenues in F1Q07, the analyst says. Prudential Financial, however, does express concern with the company’s recent aggressive approach to acquisitions in view of integration risks and resulting margin contraction.

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CIOL: Indian companies don’t want any stone unturned in their quest for expansion in newer markets. Indian IT giant Wipro is looking at Vietnam, as a possible offshore destination. Wipro is currently investing in a center in Romania and is looking at other Asian destinations.

The Romanian centre is the first offshore destination center opened by Wipro outside India. This center was aimed at serving as a near-shore destination to serve the company’s customers in Europe. Around $250 million was invested into setting up the facility. Wipro actually wants to set up strategic offshore centers to capture the markets around it; these centers are also opened so as to minimize the risk of operating from a single location. Now days clients are also concerned about the processing of their data and the offshore location. Wipro wants to minimize this risk, by operating from a center much closer to the clients location. For this, the company is currently studying the potential of having operations in Vietnam and other regions in Asia. Wipro is also planning to ramp up investments in Australia in the next two years including the establishment of a near-shore center there.

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Financial Express: Wipro GE Medical Systems Private Ltd. is a joint venture between GE Healthcare which has a 51 per cent stake and the remainder in the unit is held by Wipro Corporation, a unit of Wipro Ltd (NYSE: WIT), India’s third-largest software services exporter. GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), expects its Indian operations to post ‘double-digit’ growth in revenues in coming years on the back of new launches. GE healthcare have its presence in many South East Asian countries. It has two unites in India and 90% of its 420 million $ came from India last year. Daniel Peters, president and chief executive of GE Healthcare’s medical diagnostics division, said India has raised its importance in terms of growth opportunities for business.

India is already known for the so called ‘Medical Tourism’ because you can have several kinds of surgeries done for a fraction of cost when compared to the west. This on top of the growing Health Care industry in India will be a major plus for this company. Down the road this might be a major growth factor for Wipro.

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CIOL: It seems like Wipro will continue its shopping spree. Wipro (Nyse: WIT), one of the top three IT companies in India will be celebrating its 60th birthday on July 18, 2006. The company has come a long way from a small FMCG company to become an IT giant.

In a letter to the shareholders named Spirit of Wipro, Azim Premji said, Wipro will continue with its acquisition spree to supplement its organic growth. Wipro has been making a lot of acquisitions and using them to grow in new areas. Premji looked very positive about the growth and said, the company would pursue strategic initiatives identified in their strategic plan to deliver strong growth in future in all their business.

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Yahoo: Wipro Ltd (NYSE: WIT) as expected bought Portugal based retails solutions provider Enabler Informatica SA. It was a all cash deal and Wipro paid about $52.7 million.

Here’s some more information on Enabler from its website:

- Enabler is an international IT and business services company that delivers measurable value to the world’s best-known retailers. The company works with retailers on their business and IT transformation programmes to achieve competitive advantage.

- Some of their customers include: Tesco, Nisa-Today’s, Sonae, AVA, Esprit and Despar.

- The 300 employee company has customer in Portugal, the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Middle East and Brazil.

- The company posted revenue of 30 million euros in fiscal 2005.

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Financial Express: Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT), India’s third largest IT services firm, said today that it’s looking to make acquisitions in Europe and US. Azim Premji, in an interview with Reuters, said that Wipro aimed to boost sales in Japan by more than 50 percent in the year to next March to $90 million. They are looking at companies with revenues between $20 million and $70 million.

I recently highlighted Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT) as a stock on sale here.

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Also remember that Indian stocks are a long term play.

1. SIFY (NASDAQ: SIFY) – Diversified internet company involved with anything to do with Internet in India. Infrastructure outsourcing will benefit Sify the most.
2. Tata Motors Inc. (NYSE: TTM) – Auto pick in the booming Indian auto sector. (The lackluster earnings also caused the decline in the case of Tata Motors)
3. HDFC Bank (NYSE: HDB) – Look at my article about Citigroup possibly buying out the bank after the liberalization in 2009.
4. ICICI Bank (NYSE: IBN) – Another pick in the red-hot Indian Banking sector.
5. DR. REDDY�S LAB LTD (NYSE:RDY) – Pharmaceutical pick.
6. Wipro (NYSE: WIT) – Might reach single digit and would be worth picking up for a trade.

Full Disclosure: I own shares of SIFY

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Forbes: According to the article written by Forbes columnist John Christy, the case for investing in India is a no-brainer. He also talks about how with 4,781 domestic listings, the Bombay Stock Exchange has more stocks to choose from than any other single exchange on the planet. The New York Stock Exchange, by contrast, has about 1,800 domestic listings and the London Stock Exchange has 2,809.

Following are the six stocks that he likes:

“I want to own Indian companies that sell their expertise to the entire world (INFY, WIT and SAY) and companies that sell services that Indian consumers want to buy (HDB, HTX, and SIFY)”

Infosys Technologies (NASDAQ: INFY): The key to understanding Infosys is to realize that it is not merely an “outsourcing” firm as it is often described in the media. While Infosys spent its early years in the 1980s doing fairly routine tasks such as software re-engineering and application development, it has consistently raised its game by adding services such as technology consulting and business process management. The final piece of the puzzle is management consulting, which Infosys is now pursuing aggressively.

He also mentions Wipro (NYSE: WIT) and Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY). Although he doesn’t go into detail in these two companies he thinks they will all be winners along with INFY. He recommends owning all three and holding them “forever,” as Warren Buffett would say.

For the domestic market the following companies are well-positioned to benefit from the growth in India’s middle class.

HDFC Bank (NYSE: HDB): HDFC is a leading mortgage lender according to him.

Hutchinson Telecom (NYSE: HTX): Hutchison, though listed in Hong Kong, owns a rapidly growing mobile telecom franchise in India, where only 5%of the population has a cell phone. (Bonus: With HTX you also get exposure to nearly a dozen emerging markets in all, including Vietnam and Indonesia.)

Sify Corp. (NASDAQ: SIFY): Sify is a play on several forms of Internet access. The PC penetration rate in India is very low; about 70% of Internet usage is done in public places. Sify runs a chain of more than 3,100 cyber caf�s under the “iWay” brand name in 150 cities across the country. In addition to the caf�s, Sify has a portal business and offers broadband access for consumers and companies.

For investors who prefer funds he likes Matthews India Fund (MINDX).

John also recommended a book, India Unbound by Gurcharan Das, former chief executive of Procter & Gamble’s Indian operations.

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