The company had more than 12,000 staff in Ukraine as of the end of 2021.
Dreamstime
Shares of EPAM Systems tumbled nearly 40% after the software-design company said it is withdrawing its financial forecasts for the first quarter and all of 2022 as a result of “military actions” in Ukraine.
Shares plummeted after the company said in its annual 10K filing late Friday that its largest software-development sites, which it calls delivery centers, were located in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. As of Dec. 31, it had 12,389 so-called delivery professionals in Ukraine, 9,416 in Belarus, and 8,933, in Russia.
“The company is proactively working to relocate its employees to lower risk locations in Ukraine and neighboring countries,” the company said in a news release.
The stock is on pace for its lowest close since June 16, 2020, according to Dow Jones Markets data. Shares were down 38% to $239.50, which would be the worst one-day decline on record if sustained through the close. Shares of EPAM Systems fell 13.7% last week.
The company said when it reported its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 17 that it expected first-quarter revenue of $1.17 billion to $1.18 billion and 2022 revenue of at least $5.15 billion. At the end of January, the consensus call among analysts tracked by FactSet was for first-quarter revenue of $1.11 billion and 2022 revenue of $4.87 billion.
The company didn’t provide a new revenue forecast. It didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stocks were generally falling Monday as the U.S., and other countries continue to tighten sanctions on the Russian economy in response to the attack on Ukraine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was underperforming the Nasdaq Composite as investors threw out economically-sensitive stocks in favor of tech shares. In early afternoon, Dow was down 1.3%, while the S&P 500 fell 1% and the Nasdaq lost 0.4%.
Write to Logan Moore at [email protected].
