EPAM Systems raises annual profit on strong cloud demand
(Reuters) - EPAM Systems forecast annual profit above market expectations and beat estimates for third-quarter profit on Thursday as businesses increasingly digitise operations and adopt cloud services, sending the software firm's shares up over 6% in premarket trading.
The company lifted its 2023 adjusted profit to between $10.31 and $10.39 from $9.90 to $10.10 forecast earlier, higher than estimates of $10.04, according to LSEG data.
Companies have been turning to cloud computing and integrating digital processes since the pandemic as businesses adopt a hybrid-work model.
EPAM expects to benefit from its efforts on strengthening cloud capabilities through partnerships with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, which are seeing strong demand due to adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) services.
The company, however, narrowed its annual revenue outlook for a second time this year to between $4.66 billion and $4.67 billion, compared with estimates of $4.67 billion.
The software engineering and product development service provider reported revenue of $1.15 billion for the quarter, in-line with estimates, according to LSEG data.
Quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.73 per share, beat analysts' estimates of $2.56.
EPAM also initiated a cost optimization program in the third-quarter which is expected to deliver over $100 million in annualised savings.
(Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
