COFORGE vs PERSISTENT
Side-by-side comparison of Coforge Ltd. and Persistent Systems Ltd.. Descriptive only — not investment advice.
Coforge Ltd.
IT
Quality Score: 66/100
Persistent Systems Ltd.
IT
Quality Score: 75/100
At a glance
| Metric | COFORGE | PERSISTENT |
|---|---|---|
| Quality Score | 66/100 | 75/100 |
| P/E (trailing) | 33.4 | 45.4 |
| Forward P/E | 21.3 | 31.0 |
| ROE | +18.6% | +26.4% |
| Profit margin | +9.5% | +12.7% |
| Debt-to-equity | 7.52 | 6.09 |
| Dividend yield | +1.13% | +0.85% |
| 1Y price return | -15.4% | -3.7% |
| From 52w high | -28.4% | -17.9% |
| Analyst rating1 = Strong Buy, 5 = Strong Sell | 1.73 | 2.35 |
Highlighted value = better on the metric (lower for P/E, D/E, drawdown, analyst rating; higher elsewhere). Descriptive only.
Snapshots
Coforge is a mid-cap NSE IT services company trading at ₹1,421.8 (33.4x trailing PE, 21.3x forward PE), with 5-year revenue growth of 30.5% and earnings growth of 134%. The stock sits 8.6% below its 200-DMA and 28.4% below its 52-week high, while carrying a debt-to-equity of 7.52 — the highest in its 6-stock IT peer group — reflecting acquisition-driven financing from the Encora and Ciginiti transactions.
Persistent Systems (NSE: PERSISTENT) is a mid-cap IT services company ranked 2nd of 6 peers on quality score and 3rd on ROE (26.35%) within its tracked IT peer set. At ₹5,402, the stock trades above the 50-DMA (₹5,026) but 2.31% below the 200-DMA (₹5,530), with a 12-month return of -3.71% set against a 14.18% recovery over the past 3 months. It carries the highest trailing PE among tracked peers at 45.41, while 5-year revenue and earnings CAGRs of 25.1% and 32.1% respectively underpin a fundamental consistency score of 98 out of 100.
Pros
- ✓5-year revenue CAGR of 30.5% and earnings CAGR of 134% substantially exceed the pace of large-cap IT peers, driven by targeted acquisitions and organic deal wins.
- ✓Q4 FY26 net profit more than doubled YoY on robust deal wins, compressing the forward PE to 21.3x from a trailing 33.4x and signalling near-term earnings visibility.
- ✓FCF was positive in 4 of the available measurement years, and the consistency score of 76 indicates a reasonably stable earnings profile beneath the acquisition activity.
- ✓Dividend yield of 1.13% and a quality score of 58 place Coforge 3rd of 6 in the IT peer group, ahead of HCLTech (40), TechM (46), and Wipro (46).
- ✓Five-year earnings CAGR of 32.1% and revenue CAGR of 25.1% are among the strongest sustained growth rates in the tracked IT peer group, supported by FCF positive results in all 4 years of available persistence data.
- ✓ROE of 26.35% has exceeded 15% in all 4 tracked years, ranking 3rd among 6 IT peers, ahead of HCLTECH (23.36%), TECHM (16.61%), and WIPRO (15.49%).
- ✓Fundamental consistency score of 98/100, with debt trend reported as falling — the D/E ratio, while elevated at 6.09, is directionally improving.
- ✓Quality score of 61 ranks 2nd of 6 peers, trailing only TCS (62), and forward PE of 30.96 represents meaningful compression from the trailing PE of 45.41 if consensus earnings estimates materialise.
Cons
- ✗Debt-to-equity of 7.52 is substantially above the IT peer group (TCS, Infosys, HCLTech, Wipro all carry negligible leverage); rising debt trend linked to acquisition financing creates meaningful interest burden risk if growth disappoints.
- ✗ROE of 18.6% ranks 4th of 6 IT peers; TCS (48.4%), Infosys (31.44%), and HCLTech (23.36%) all demonstrate materially higher capital efficiency on comparable or larger revenue bases.
- ✗Price has been below the 200-DMA for an extended period, down 15.38% over 12 months, with a 28.37% drawdown from the 52-week high — against a 3-month partial recovery of 17.22% that has not yet reclaimed long-term trend.
- ✗Trailing PE of 33.4x is the highest in the 6-stock IT peer set (next highest: TechM at 28.5x, TCS at 16.9x, Infosys at 15.6x), representing a significant premium that depends on sustained above-peer earnings delivery.
- ✗Trailing PE of 45.41 is 60–192% above the PE of the five larger IT peers (range: 15.55–28.49), placing PERSISTENT at rank 6 of 6 on valuation within the tracked peer set.
- ✗Debt-to-equity of 6.09 is an outlier in IT services, a sector where most peers carry negligible financial leverage; this level is well above sector norms and adds balance-sheet sensitivity.
- ✗Price is 2.31% below the 200-DMA at ₹5,530 and down 3.71% over 12 months, with a 17.85% drawdown from the 52-week high — the long-term trend remains compressed despite the recent 3-month recovery.
- ✗Profit margin of 12.65% and quality score of 61 lag TCS (62 quality score) and trail INFY on ROE (31.44%), indicating room for operational differentiation against Tier-1 peers.
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