Ann: DTL reports strong 1H FY24 earnings growth, page-21

I must admit, your response is far too complicated for my simple mind to understand. Couple of points.

1. Increased employee costs: Sure, it could be an investment. Or it could be an acute shortage in the IT labour market which is forcing DTL to pay higher wages to keep talent. We can't say either way for sure. DDR is also having to dole out extra money to keep talent. It doesn't mean they suddenly expect growth to increase because they have hired the best. I think this just needs to be done to stay market leaders (as DTL and DDR both are).

2. AI: I'm sure DTL sales will increase overtime because of AI and other things but this has nothing to do with the current report.

None of what you have said changes the fact that the underlying financial performance of the business is poorer than what the market was expecting. DTLs true NPAT growth rate excluding money they receive from interest payments is around 5 to 6% which is far less stellar than the headline figures we are used to seeing over the last several years.
To my way of thinking this should be priced at a PE of around 25 after stripping out the interest contribution from the NPAT. Even at current prices I think there is plenty of downside remaining.

Management has themselves said that the revenue growth came from lower margin projects. They have not stated that they expect this to change so I think it's too generous as investors to assume their margins will improve. Ofcourse they could, but relying on that is a way to make substandard returns in the market.