Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (CTSH)

Cognizant reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $5.7 billion on October 29, 2026, up 4.6 percent from a year earlier 1. Financial Services grew 12.0 percent to $1,767 million, while Health Sciences fell 1.1 percent and Products and Resources fell 0.9 percent 1. Acquisitions added about 210 basis points of growth, or 2.1 percentage points (computed), and resold third-party products added about 190 basis points 2.

Operating margin, the share of revenue left after the costs of running the business, was 15.4 percent on the company's reported basis, down 60 basis points 1. On its adjusted measure the margin was 16.3 percent, up 30 basis points 1. The reported figure carried $51 million of costs from Project Leap, a restructuring program begun in the second quarter of 2026 2.

Chief Executive Ravi Kumar S said over 50 percent of the company's code is now AI-assisted 1. The company also expects full-year 2026 revenue of $22.05 billion to $22.14 billion 1. Headcount stood at 359,900 on September 30, 2026, up 10,100 from a year earlier 1.

Two items remain open, according to the 10-Q 2. On October 21, 2026 the company agreed to buy DyFlex Solutions, an Australian SAP consulting firm, for about $210 million in cash 2. A trial on some non-class claims in a hiring-bias case is set for December 8, 2026 2.

In 2020, revenue fell by $131 million to $16,652 million, a decline of 0.8 percent 5. The company named a ransomware attack and the COVID-19 pandemic as drags in every segment and region 5. It also pointed to its exit from certain content-related services, which cost $178 million of revenue 5.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, Cognizant offered to settle and exit a large Financial Services engagement in Continental Europe, which cut revenue that year by $118 million 5. Also in 2020, on October 27, a jury returned a verdict of $855 million for Cognizant in a case Syntel brought against it and its TriZetto unit in 2015 3.

In May 2023 the Second Circuit upheld the finding of liability but vacated a $570 million award and sent the damages question back to the trial court 3. A retrial in June 2025 ended with a jury award of $70 million in compensatory damages 3.

Growth returned in 2022, when revenue rose by $921 million, or 5.0 percent 6. Acquisitions added 100 basis points, while the sale of the Samlink subsidiary on February 1, 2022 took away 60 basis points 6. The company credited clients' adoption of digital technologies and pricing improvements, but said hiring and keeping staff was hard, with attrition of 31.7 percent for the year 6.

Revenue slipped in 2023, down $75 million or 0.4 percent, because the Financial Services segment was hurt by weakness in the banking sector, the company said 7. Operating margin was 13.9 percent, against 15.3 percent in 2022, with two rounds of pay raises since October 2022 weighing on it 7.

To cut costs, the company ran NextGen, a program to simplify its operating model, trim corporate functions and shrink office space for hybrid work 8. NextGen cost $229 million in 2023 and $134 million in 2024, and finished at the end of 2024 3.

In 2024 revenue rose by $383 million, or 2.0 percent, and acquisitions supplied 200 basis points of it 8. Cognizant bought Thirdera, a ServiceNow specialist, on January 22, 2024, and Belcan, an engineering services firm for aerospace, defense, space and marine customers, on August 26, 2024 3. For Belcan it paid $1,195 million in cash, net of cash acquired, and issued 1,470,589 Class A shares 3.

In 2025 revenue rose by $1,372 million, or 7.0 percent, with Belcan adding 260 basis points 3. Operating margin reached 16.1 percent, helped by NextGen savings and a weaker Indian rupee 3. Net income was $2,230 million against $2,240 million a year earlier, because a one-time $390 million tax charge followed a July 2025 change in U.S. tax law 3.

On January 1, 2026, Cognizant bought 3Cloud, an independent Microsoft Azure services provider, and on June 22, 2026 it bought Astreya Partners, a provider of AI-first IT managed services 2. The two carried a combined purchase price of $1,398 million 2. Revenue for the first nine months of 2026 was $16,558 million, up 5.0 percent 1.

What the company sells

Cognizant describes itself as a professional services company that helps clients modernize technology, reimagine processes and transform experiences 3. In plain terms, large companies hire it to build, run and repair their software and back-office work 3. Its services include consulting, application development, systems integration, quality engineering, application maintenance, infrastructure and security, and business process services 3.

The work is organized in seven practices, among them Core Technologies and Insights, Enterprise Platform Services and Cognizant Moment, which builds digital customer experiences 3. The newest, Security, was established in 2026 3. In the quarter, the company said it was an AI builder that builds full-stack AI solutions for clients 1.

Health Sciences

Health Sciences serves healthcare providers and payers and life sciences companies, including pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device makers 3. It brought in $1,587 million in the third quarter of 2026, 28.0 percent of revenue, down 1.1 percent from a year earlier 1. The company named weakness among healthcare clients 2.

TriZetto's Facets and QNXT platforms, which administer health plans' core operations, gained AI agents that process routine pending claims 1. Gilead Sciences agreed to a five-year extension of its work with Cognizant 1.

Financial Services

Financial Services serves banking, capital markets, payments and insurance companies 3. It is the largest segment, at $1,767 million in the third quarter of 2026, or 31.2 percent of revenue, up 12.0 percent 1. Over nine months it grew 12.1 percent to $5,144 million 1.

The 10-Q says banking clients led the quarter's growth 2. Axis Bank, one of India's largest private banks, went live on Cognizant's application management services 1.

Products and Resources

Products and Resources covers manufacturers, automakers, retailers, consumer goods, aerospace and defense, travel and hospitality, logistics, energy and utility businesses 3. It earned $1,371 million in the third quarter of 2026, 24.2 percent of revenue, down 0.9 percent 1. The company named weakness among retail, consumer goods, travel and hospitality clients 2.

Belcan, the aerospace engineering firm bought in 2024, contributed about 960 basis points to this segment's 2025 growth 3.

Communications, Media and Technology

This segment serves communications, media and entertainment, education, publishing, information and professional services, and technology companies 3. It earned $939 million in the third quarter of 2026, 16.6 percent of revenue, up 10.5 percent 1. Acquisitions added 875 basis points to that growth, and resold third-party products added 600 basis points 1.

Technology clients grew while communications and media clients weakened 2.

AI offerings and partners

In the quarter the company launched Cognizant AI Nexus, a layer for metering AI spend, governing AI quality and documenting results, and Cognizant Activate, a unit for emerging enterprises 1. It set up a Gemini Frontier Capability Group with Google Cloud, backed by 18,000 associates 1.

In a case at Odyssey Logistics, a seven-person Cognizant team used Cognition's Devin AI software engineer for a legacy conversion, and the company reported a 37 percent net cost saving against the conventional approach 1.

People and places

Cognizant had about 351,600 employees at the end of 2025, with 256,900 in India 3. Voluntary attrition among tech services staff was 13.9 percent in 2025, down from 15.9 percent in 2024 3. On September 30, 2026 headcount was 359,900 1.

Headquarters are in a leased building in Teaneck, New Jersey 3. India holds about 90 percent of delivery-center space, with the largest site in Chennai at 7 million square feet 3.

Ravi Kumar S, previously president of Infosys, has been chief executive since January 2023 3. Jatin Dalal, previously chief financial officer of Wipro, has been chief financial officer since December 2023 3.

Rivals

The 10-K names Accenture, Atos, Capgemini, CGI, Deloitte Digital, DXC Technology, EPAM Systems, Genpact, HCL Technologies, IBM Consulting, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro as direct competitors 3. It also counts clients' own in-house technology teams, such as global capability centers, as competition 3.

Legal matters and other problems

In the Syntel case, a March 27, 2026 order brought Cognizant's award to about $298 million 2. Judgment was entered on April 29, 2026, and Syntel filed a notice of appeal on May 19, 2026 2. The company records no gain until one is realizable 2.

In a federal class action in California, a jury found for plaintiffs on October 4, 2024 over terminations of non-South Asian and non-Indian workers from the bench, meaning staff with no active project 2. A court awarded them $16 million in interim fees and costs on December 5, 2025 2. The company says it cannot reasonably estimate a possible loss 2.

A February 2019 ruling of India's Supreme Court widened a mandatory contribution rule, and the company accrued $117 million in the first quarter of 2019 3. India's new labor codes added a one-time $147 million to its pension-type liability in late 2025 3.

The umbrella, in words

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is the parent, and its Exhibit 21 lists subsidiaries by country, among them Cognizant (Mauritius) Ltd., Cognizant TriZetto Software Group, Inc., Thirdera, LLC and Belcan entities 9. The company says its main Indian subsidiary is held through its wholly-owned Mauritius entity 3.

Cognizant owns 100 percent of 3Cloud and Astreya Partners, bought in 2026, and of Thirdera and Belcan, bought in 2024 23. Its brands include Cognizant Moment for digital experience and TriZetto for health plan software 31.

It has over 22 million square feet of owned and leased delivery-center space and sold an office complex in India in 2025 for a $62 million gain 3. Vanguard Capital Management reported holding 7.52 percent of its common stock in a Schedule 13G 10.

For the fourth quarter the company expects revenue of $5.49 to $5.57 billion, growth of 3.0 to 4.5 percent 1. For the full year it expects revenue of $22.05 to $22.14 billion, which it puts at 4.0 to 4.4 percent growth in constant currency 1.

It also expects an adjusted operating margin of about 16.1 percent, 30 basis points of expansion, and adjusted diluted earnings per share of $5.72 to $5.79, growth of 8 to 10 percent 1. Adjusted figures leave out items such as restructuring costs 1.

The company now expects Project Leap to cost $180 million to $250 million in total, with $140 million to $160 million in 2026 and the rest through the first quarter of 2027 2. It expects in-year savings of about $200 million in 2026, used mainly to fund investments 2.

A quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share is payable on November 25, 2026 to holders of record on November 13, 2026 1. At September 30, 2026, $2.1 billion remained under the share repurchase authorization 1.

On October 5, 2026 the company signed a credit agreement with a $550 million term loan and a $1.85 billion revolving facility 4. Both mature on October 3, 2031 4. The revolver is for general corporate purposes 4.

The DyFlex purchase, for about $210 million in cash, awaits closing 2. The company said it plans to hire 1,500 U.S. college graduates and scale a Frontier Certified Engineer and Frontier Business Operator workforce to 15,000 people 1.

Travelport, a travel technology firm, has finished the first phase of an AI transformation announced in May 2026 alongside Anthropic and has moved to a next phase with Cognizant 1.

A trial on some non-class claims in the California hiring-bias case is set for December 8, 2026, and the class case then goes to a second phase on each member's liability and damages 2. Syntel's appeal of the April 29, 2026 judgment is pending 2.

India's labor code rules are still being clarified, and the company says the outcome could change compensation and benefit costs there 3. A 2024 protocol amending the India-Mauritius tax treaty could raise the company's effective tax rate, depending on its final terms 3.