Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) — Company Research

Last Updated: 6 May 2026

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (NASDAQ: CTSH) is one of the largest pure-play IT services companies in the world, with FY2025 revenue of $21.108bn, approximately 357,600 employees and operations spanning four industry segments — Health Sciences, Financial Services, Products and Resources, and Communications, Media and Technology. The investment story in mid-2026 is two-pronged. On one side: revenue growth has reaccelerated to 6.95% in FY2025, operating margin has expanded to 16.06%, and the company is leaning hard into AI/agent services, recently expanding partnerships with CrowdStrike's "Project QuiltWorks" coalition and adding the engineering services capabilities of Belcan. On the other: the stock sits at $51.33, just $0.52 above its 52-week low of $50.81 and 41% below the 52-week high of $87.03; on 6 May 2026 Verdict reported the company is weighing up to 15,000 job cuts under "Project Leap" with $230m–$320m in severance costs expected in Q2 2026; and a one-time $390m non-cash tax charge from the U.S. One Big Beautiful Bill Act dragged FY2025 net income to $2.230bn, slightly below FY2024's $2.240bn despite higher operating income.

1. Company Snapshot

Name	Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation
Ticker / Exchange	CTSH / NASDAQ
Sector / Industry	Technology / Information Technology Services
Market cap	$24.28bn (6 May 2026)
Enterprise value	$24.15bn
FY2025 revenue	$21.108bn (+6.95% YoY)
FY2025 free cash flow	$2.595bn
Employees	357,600 (per JSON snapshot, 6 May 2026)
CEO	Ravi Kumar Singisetti (since January 2023)
Headquarters	300 Frank West Burr Boulevard, Teaneck, New Jersey, USA
Website	cognizant.com
Fiscal year-end	31 December
Next earnings	29 July 2026

2. Bull Case vs Bear Case

Bull case

• Revenue growth has clearly reaccelerated: FY2025 revenue grew 6.95% to $21.108bn after two years of essentially flat top-line ($19.428bn FY2022, $19.353bn FY2023, $19.736bn FY2024), and the latest quarter (Q1 2026, ended 31 March 2026) printed $5.413bn, the second-highest quarter on record.
• Operating leverage is showing: operating margin reached 16.06% in FY2025 versus 14.65% in FY2024, and per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12) the Belcan acquisition contributed 260 basis points to FY2025 revenue growth — most of it landing in the Products and Resources segment.
• Capital return is meaningful at this market cap: $1.378bn of buybacks and $610m of dividends in FY2025 — combined, roughly 8.2% of the $24.28bn market cap returned in a single year.
• Balance sheet is conservative: $1.901bn cash and equivalents against $1.152bn of total debt (long-term $543m), debt-to-equity of 0.077 and a current ratio of 2.14 — Cognizant has more than enough flexibility to fund acquisitions, severance and shareholder returns simultaneously.
• Trades at undemanding multiples: trailing P/E of 11.26x, P/S of 1.15x, EV/Revenue of 1.14x, and a free-cash-flow yield of 10.69% on a stock sitting just above its 52-week low.

Bear case

• The stock is doing badly: at $51.33 it is essentially at the 52-week low ($50.81) and 41% below the 52-week high of $87.03, signalling that the market does not currently believe the growth-and-margin reacceleration is sustainable.
• A major restructuring is being layered on top of the existing operations: Verdict reported on 6 May 2026 that Cognizant is weighing up to 15,000 job cuts (most in India) under "Project Leap", with $230m–$320m of severance costs expected in Q2 2026 (https://www.verdict.co.uk/cognizant-job-cuts-india/) — a real cash cost that follows the FY2024 NextGen restructuring already booked in the financials.
• Tax surprise hit FY2025 reported earnings: per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), the Q3 2025 enactment of the OBBBA forced a one-time, non-cash $390m income tax expense related to derecognised non-U.S. R&E deferred tax assets, which by itself reduced GAAP diluted EPS by $0.80 and was the main reason FY2025 net income ($2.230bn) was marginally below FY2024 ($2.240bn) despite operating income rising $497m.
• Industry concentration and segment softness: per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12) the Communications, Media and Technology (CMT) segment grew only $34m / 1.0% (0.7% constant currency) in 2025, and the broader Products and Resources segment (excluding the Belcan acquisition) was characterised as "weakness".
• Management itself flags AI as a structural pricing/demand risk: per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12) "as AI-based technologies or other forms of automation evolve, demand for some services that we currently perform for our clients may be reduced and our ability to obtain favorable pricing or other terms for some of our services may be diminished."
• Headcount is being cycled hard: per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12) Voluntary Attrition – Tech Services was 13.9% in 2025 (versus 15.9% in 2024), still high in absolute terms; the Project Leap announcement adds an involuntary layer on top.

3. What Does This Company Actually Do?

Cognizant is a professional-services and IT-services company. It charges clients to plan, build, integrate, run and modernise their technology — increasingly with AI and automation embedded into the delivery model — across consulting, application development, systems integration, quality engineering, application maintenance, infrastructure and security, and business-process outsourcing.

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12): in 2025 Cognizant operated through four reportable industry segments — Health Sciences (HS), Financial Services (FS), Products and Resources (P&R), and Communications, Media and Technology (CMT) — and organised its delivery into seven integrated practices: Core Technologies and Insights; Enterprise Platform Services; Industry Solutions; Intuitive Operations and Automation; Software and Platform Engineering; Cognizant Moment (digital experience); and Security, the newest practice, established in 2026.

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), segment revenue growth in 2025 versus 2024 was:

Segment	$ growth FY25 vs FY24	Reported growth	Constant-currency growth
Health Sciences (HS)	+$415m	+7.0%	+6.4%
Financial Services (FS)	+$420m	+7.3%	+6.8%
Products and Resources (P&R)	+$503m	+10.5%	+9.7%
Communications, Media and Technology (CMT)	+$34m	+1.0%	+0.7%
Total revenues	+$1,372m	+7.0%	+6.4%

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), the Belcan acquisition contributed approximately 260 basis points of growth to overall revenue and approximately 960 basis points of growth to the P&R segment, primarily in North America and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom. P&R growth excluding Belcan was therefore broadly flat. CMT showed weakness amongst communications and media customers, partially offset by growth in technology customers.

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), revenue growth by geography in 2025 versus 2024 was: North America +$1,082m / +7.4% (also +7.4% constant currency); United Kingdom +$95m / +5.2% (+2.1% CC); Continental Europe +$158m / +8.2% (+3.6% CC); Europe total +$253m / +6.7% (+2.9% CC); and Rest of World +$37m / +2.9% (+4.7% CC).

4. The Business Model

Cognizant sells time-and-materials and fixed-price professional-services contracts to enterprises in financial services, healthcare/life sciences, manufacturing, retail, communications, media and technology. The economics of the business are simple in concept and very labour-intensive in practice:

1. Gross margin around a third. FY2025 gross margin was 33.72% — characteristic of a services business where cost of revenue is dominated by salaries, incentive compensation, stock-based compensation, employee benefits, project-related travel, immigration costs, subcontractors and resold third-party products and services (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 7, filed 2026-02-12).
2. SG&A is the second big lever. FY2025 GAAP operating expenses were $3,790m on $21,108m of revenue. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), SG&A (exclusive of D&A) was $3,240m (15.3% of revenues), down from 16.3% of revenues in 2024 — the decrease as a percentage of revenue was primarily driven by net savings generated from the NextGen program.
3. Operating margin around the mid-teens, expanding. FY2025 operating margin was 16.06% versus 14.65% in FY2024. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), the increase was primarily driven by net savings from the NextGen program, operational efficiencies and the beneficial impact of foreign-currency exchange rate movements (the depreciation of the Indian rupee against the U.S. dollar positively impacted operating margin by approximately 50 basis points in 2025 including hedges, and approximately 70 basis points excluding hedges), partially offset by increased compensation costs and the dilutive impact of the Belcan acquisition. The 2025 GAAP operating margin was also helped by 30 basis points (or $62m) from a one-off gain on the sale of an office complex in India.
4. Cost base concentrated in India. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), a predominant portion of costs in India are denominated in Indian rupees, representing approximately 23% of global operating costs in 2025. Each additional 1.0% change in the INR/USD exchange rate has the effect of moving operating margin by approximately 17 basis points (excluding hedges).

The moat is built on (a) deep domain expertise in regulated industries (financial services and healthcare make up two of the four segments), (b) institutional knowledge of clients' legacy estates (the 10-K notes that clients run "critical new digital initiatives alongside essential legacy systems"), (c) scale of delivery — per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), 256,900 employees were based in India at year-end 2025, providing offshore cost arbitrage and follow-the-sun delivery — and (d) a partner ecosystem covering Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Pegasystems, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow and Workday.

There is no government subsidy or regulatory-credit dependency in Cognizant's business model — revenue is earned from enterprise clients paying for technology services, not from tax credits or compliance-credit schemes. The most material government-policy variables are: (i) U.S. tax policy, where the One Big Beautiful Bill Act repealed the requirement to capitalise U.S. R&E costs in 2025, triggering a one-time, non-cash $390m income tax expense related to derecognising non-U.S. R&E deferred tax assets (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 7, filed 2026-02-12); (ii) Indian labour and tax law — per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), the Government of India implemented labour-law reforms effective 21 November 2025 (the Code on Social Security, 2020), causing a one-time $147m increase to defined benefit liabilities in Q4 2025 with a modest expected increase to defined-benefit costs going forward, and a March 2024 Protocol amending the India-Mauritius Income Tax Treaty could increase the effective income tax rate depending on its final terms; and (iii) U.S. immigration / work-authorisation policy, which directly affects how Cognizant deploys non-U.S. talent at U.S. client sites.

5. Financial Health

Five-year revenue, profit and cash flow (fiscal years end 31 December; figures from the JSON):

Metric	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025
Revenue ($bn)	n/d	19.428	19.353	19.736	21.108
YoY growth	n/d	n/d	-0.4%	+2.0%	+6.95%
Gross profit ($bn)	n/d	6.980	6.689	6.778	7.117
Operating income ($bn)	2.826	2.968	2.689	2.892	3.389
Net income ($bn)	n/d	2.290	2.126	2.240	2.230
Diluted EPS ($)	n/d	4.41	4.21	4.51	4.56
Operating cash flow ($bn)	n/d	2.568	2.330	2.124	2.883
Free cash flow ($bn)	n/d	2.236	2.013	1.827	2.595
Buybacks ($bn)	n/d	1.422	1.064	0.605	1.378
Dividends paid ($bn)	n/d	0.564	0.591	0.600	0.610
Diluted shares (m)	n/d	519	505	497	489

The four-year picture: top-line went from $19.428bn (FY2022) to $21.108bn (FY2025) — about 8.6% cumulative — but margin and cash conversion improved meaningfully. Operating income climbed from $2.689bn (FY2023, the trough) to $3.389bn (FY2025), free cash flow recovered from $1.827bn (FY2024) to $2.595bn (FY2025), and the diluted share count fell from 519m to 489m on $4.5bn of cumulative buybacks across the four years. Net income in FY2025 was held back by the OBBBA-related $390m one-time non-cash income tax expense recorded in Q3 2025 (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 7, filed 2026-02-12).

Balance-sheet snapshot (31 December 2025, per JSON):

Total assets	$20.692bn
Cash & equivalents	$1.901bn
Total debt	$1.152bn (long-term $543m)
Total liabilities	$5.677bn
Total equity	$15.015bn
Current ratio	2.14
Debt / equity	0.077

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), at 31 December 2025 Cognizant had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $1,914m, restricted cash of $733m, and approximately $1.85bn of available capacity under credit facilities. The Credit Agreement provides for a $650m Term Loan and a $1,850m unsecured revolving credit facility, both maturing in October 2027; during 2025 the company repaid the $300m balance outstanding under the revolver and ended the year with no outstanding revolver balance. DSO (days sales outstanding) was 81 days at year-end 2025, up from 78 days at year-end 2024 and 77 days at year-end 2023.

Quarterly trajectory (most recent five quarters, per JSON):

Quarter ended	Revenue ($m)	Gross margin	Op. income ($m)	Net income ($m)	Diluted EPS ($)	FCF ($m)
31 Mar 2025 (Q1 25)	5,115	33.59%	791	663	1.34	323
30 Jun 2025 (Q2 25)	5,245	33.67%	817	645	1.31	331
30 Sep 2025 (Q3 25)	5,415	33.87%	866	274	0.56	1,160
31 Dec 2025 (Q4 25)	5,333	33.73%	853	648	1.34	781
31 Mar 2026 (Q1 26)	5,413	32.79%	843	662	1.39	198

The unusual Q3 2025 print — $866m of operating income but only $274m of net income — reflects the one-time, non-cash $390m income tax expense related to OBBBA enactment (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 7, filed 2026-02-12). Stripping out that charge, Q3 2025 net income would have been broadly in line with the surrounding quarters.

0 1500 3000 4500 6000

30% 31.5% 33% 34.5% 36%

5,115

5,245

5,415

5,333

5,413

Q1 25 Q2 25 Q3 25 Q4 25 Q1 26 Revenue ($m) Gross Margin (%) Revenue Gross Margin

Capital allocation framework. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), Cognizant's stated capital allocation framework anticipates the deployment of approximately 50% of free cash flow for acquisitions and 50% for share repurchases and dividend payments. In FY2025, $1.378bn went to buybacks and $610m to dividends — together, $1.988bn returned to shareholders. The company also has purchase commitments of approximately $2.3bn payable over the next five years (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), of which approximately $800m is expected within the next twelve months.

6. Valuation & Market Data

Raw market data, no commentary on cheap or expensive (price snapshot 6 May 2026):

Share price	$51.33
Previous close	$51.87
Day range	$50.86 – $52.00
52-week range	$50.81 – $87.03
Volume (intraday)	7,902,668
10-day average volume	7,327,980
Beta	0.803
Dividend yield	2.54%
Shares outstanding	473.00m
Float	472.71m
Market cap	$24.28bn
Enterprise value	$24.15bn
P/E (trailing)	11.26x
P/E (forward, yfinance)	8.33x
P/S (trailing)	1.15x
P/B	1.62x
EV / Revenue	1.14x
EV / EBITDA proxy*	7.13x
FCF yield	10.69%
Gross margin (FY25)	33.72%
Operating margin (FY25)	16.06%
Net margin (FY25)	10.56%
Return on equity	14.85%
Return on assets	10.78%
Debt / equity	0.077
Current ratio	2.14

*EV/EBITDA proxy uses operating income (D&A unavailable in this dataset) and is a conservative proxy that overstates the true EV/EBITDA multiple. Short interest, days-to-cover and put/call ratio were not disclosed in this report's source data.

7. What Are They Building / What's Coming?

AI capabilities and partner ecosystem. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), Cognizant is positioning itself as an "AI builder" and is investing in GenAI, agentic systems, cloud, data modernization, automation, digital engineering and IoT. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), from July 2023 to the end of 2025 the company upskilled more than 330,000 associates on GenAI via more than 1,000 learning programs, and runs alliances and partnerships with leading organisations including Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and NVIDIA. In 2025 Cognizant achieved a Guinness World Record for the largest online GenAI hackathon, hosting a global Vibe Coding Week that produced more than 30,000 prototypes (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 1, filed 2026-02-12).

New "Security" practice. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), Cognizant established a Security practice in 2026 — its seventh integrated practice — covering governance/risk/compliance, threat and vulnerability management, data protection and privacy, identity and access management and cloud and infrastructure security. The practice is one of the explicit growth vectors for FY2026.

QuiltWorks coalition. Per Simply Wall St. coverage on 6 May 2026, CrowdStrike named Cognizant — alongside Armadin, HCLTech, Infosys, KPMG, NTT DATA, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro — as a partner in its expanded "Project QuiltWorks" coalition, which applies frontier AI to cybersecurity risk management across enterprises (https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/crowdstrike-gartner-leader-status-quiltworks-011007711.html).

Astreya acquisition (announced 30 April 2026). Verdict reported on 30 April 2026 that Cognizant agreed to acquire the international operations of Astreya to strengthen its AI infrastructure and managed services capabilities (https://www.verdict.co.uk/cognizant-to-acquire-astreya/).

Belcan integration (closed in 2024). Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), the Belcan acquisition contributed approximately 260 basis points to overall FY2025 revenue growth and approximately 960 basis points to the Products and Resources segment, primarily in North America and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom, expanding Cognizant's engineering R&D footprint.

Formula 1 / Aston Martin Aramco partnership. According to Simply Wall St. coverage on 5 May 2026, Cognizant has expanded its Formula 1 partnership with Aston Martin Aramco, alongside fresh AI/cloud investments and a refreshed dividend declaration (https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/look-cognizant-technology-solutions-ctsh-192045718.html).

Strategic partnership with Uniphore. Per the JSON company description, Cognizant has a strategic partnership with Uniphore Technologies Inc. for the development of AI solutions that combine small language models and AI agents.

Dividend programme. The next ex-dividend date is 18 May 2026 with payment on 27 May 2026 (per the JSON calendar). At a current price of $51.33 the trailing yield is 2.54%.

Project Leap. Verdict reported on 6 May 2026 that Cognizant is weighing up to 15,000 job cuts (most in India) under "Project Leap", with $230m–$320m in severance costs expected in Q2 2026 (https://www.verdict.co.uk/cognizant-job-cuts-india/). The company has not yet quantified the expected run-rate cost savings in disclosed materials available in this report's source data; management commentary is expected on the next quarterly call.

8. Competitive Landscape

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), the markets for Cognizant's services are highly competitive, characterised by a large number of participants and subject to rapid change. Direct competitors named in the filing include Accenture, Atos, Capgemini, CGI, Deloitte Digital, DXC Technology, EPAM Systems, Genpact, HCL Technologies, IBM Consulting, Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), Cognizant also competes with smaller local companies, hyperscaler cloud-platform providers, AI-native start-ups and clients' own in-house global capability centres (GCCs).

Competitor	Where they overlap with Cognizant
Accenture (ACN)	Largest global IT-services and consulting peer; competes across all four Cognizant segments and is the benchmark on size, margin and AI go-to-market
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)	Indian IT-services peer with the largest delivery footprint in India; broadly overlapping segment mix in financial services and life sciences; named in FY2025 10-K as a direct competitor and as a fellow QuiltWorks partner per the 6 May 2026 Simply Wall St. piece
Infosys (INFY)	Indian IT-services peer with strong digital, cloud and AI offerings; CEO Ravi Kumar S was previously President of Infosys Global Services Organization until October 2022 (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 1, filed 2026-02-12)
Wipro (WIT)	Indian IT-services peer; CFO Jatin Dalal was previously CFO of Wipro from April 2015 to November 2023 (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 1, filed 2026-02-12)
HCL Technologies (HCLTECH)	Indian IT-services peer; named both in the FY2025 10-K and in the QuiltWorks coalition
Capgemini (CAP)	European IT-services peer with strong consulting and engineering services; closely overlaps with Belcan-extended P&R in engineering R&D
IBM Consulting	Direct consulting competitor backed by IBM platform/AI assets (watsonx)
DXC Technology (DXC)	Infrastructure and application managed services; smaller and slower-growing peer
EPAM Systems (EPAM)	Engineering-led digital services with European-Eastern European delivery footprint
Genpact (G)	Specialist in business-process services and finance/accounting BPO — overlaps with Cognizant's Intuitive Operations and Automation practice
CGI (GIB)	Canadian IT-services and consulting peer; focused mid-market and government work
Atos	European IT-services peer; restructuring in recent years, smaller scale and weaker financial profile
Hyperscalers & AI-natives	Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), competition includes cloud computing service providers and clients' in-house GCCs; the rise of agent-native and AI-native vendors is also a structural pressure on the services-hours business model

Named market-share percentages by vendor for the global IT-services and consulting market are not disclosed in this report's source data, so a competitor share-bar chart is omitted. The principal competitive factors per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12) are reputation and experience, strategic advisory capabilities, digital and AI capabilities, performance and reliability, responsiveness to customer needs, financial stability, corporate governance and competitive pricing of services.

9. Leadership and Ownership

Chief Executive Officer. Ravi Kumar Singisetti (also referred to as Ravi Kumar S) has been CEO of Cognizant since January 2023. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), prior to joining Cognizant Mr. Kumar was President of Infosys (January 2016 – October 2022), where he led the Infosys Global Services Organization across all global industry segments. He previously held positions of increasing authority at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cambridge Technology Partners, Oracle Corporation, Sapient and Infosys, and currently sits on the boards of TransUnion and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), Mr. Kumar's age is 54.

Other named executive officers (per the FY2025 10-K, Item 1, filed 2026-02-12):

Name	Age	Role	Background
Jatin Dalal	51	Chief Financial Officer (since December 2023)	Former CFO of Wipro (April 2015 – November 2023); also served as Wipro President from December 2019 – November 2023
Balu Ganesh Ayyar	64	President — Intuitive Operations and Automation and Industry Solutions (since March 2025)	Former CEO of Mphasis (2009–2017); spent nearly two decades at Hewlett-Packard
Kathryn Diaz	56	Chief People Officer (since March 2025; interim from May 2023)	Former Total Rewards leadership roles at Pearson, PVH and Merck & Co.
Surya Gummadi	49	President — Americas (since March 2025)	20-plus year Cognizant tenure; previously SVP, Health Sciences
Alina Kerdman	45	SVP, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer (since July 2025)	Joined Cognizant in 2010 from Ernst & Young
John Kim	58	Chief Legal Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary (since March 2025)	Former senior leadership roles at Capgemini (2012–2019) and WNS Global Services
Rajesh Varrier	56	President — Operations and Managing Director, Cognizant India (since March 2025)	Joined Cognizant September 2024 from Infosys, where he was EVP, Global Head of Services

Note that several senior leaders were directly hired from Indian-IT peers — most prominently CEO Ravi Kumar S from Infosys and CFO Jatin Dalal from Wipro — reinforcing the strategic shift toward an India-IT-services delivery and capital-allocation model.

Workforce composition. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12): the company's workforce at fiscal year-end 31 December 2025 included 256,900 employees in India, 41,600 in North America, 14,600 in Continental Europe, 7,800 in the United Kingdom and 30,700 in various other locations throughout the rest of the world. The workforce was approximately 39% women and 61% men. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), Voluntary Attrition – Tech Services was 13.9% in 2025, down from 15.9% in 2024.

Top institutional holders (per JSON, holdings as of 31 December 2025 unless noted):

Holder	Shares	% held	Value at filing
Vanguard Group Inc	60,210,005	12.71%	$3.091bn
BlackRock Inc.	44,578,850	9.41%	$2.288bn
State Street Corporation	24,982,720	5.27%	$1.282bn
Pzena Investment Management LLC (as of 31 Mar 2026)	20,262,362	4.28%	$1.040bn
JPMorgan Chase & Co	17,946,000	3.79%	$921m
Dodge & Cox Inc.	14,983,337	3.16%	$769m
Geode Capital Management, LLC	14,353,281	3.03%	$737m
Invesco Ltd.	12,422,462	2.62%	$638m
Norges Bank	8,324,807	1.76%	$427m
First Trust Advisors LP	8,212,204	1.73%	$422m

The top three index-aligned holders alone own roughly 27.4% of the company; the top ten institutions account for approximately 47.8% of shares.

Recent insider transactions (per JSON):

Date	Insider	Position	Shares	Reported value	Likely nature
2 Apr 2026	Kerdman, Alina	Officer (Controller/CAO)	194	$11,890	Routine non-discretionary transaction (small share count, low value)
1 Apr 2026	Kerdman, Alina	Officer	207	Not disclosed	Routine grant/disposition
16 Mar 2026	Kerdman, Alina	Officer	131	$7,962	Routine non-discretionary transaction
13 Mar 2026	Singisetti, Ravi Kumar	Chief Executive Officer	69,081	Not disclosed	Annual equity award vesting / tax withholding (date matches all other officer events)
13 Mar 2026	Dalal, Jatin Pravinchandra	Chief Financial Officer	31,340	Not disclosed	Annual equity award vesting / tax withholding
13 Mar 2026	Diaz, Kathryn	Officer (CPO)	4,587	Not disclosed	Annual equity award vesting / tax withholding
13 Mar 2026	Varrier, Rajesh	Officer (President — Ops, MD India)	5,478	Not disclosed	Annual equity award vesting / tax withholding
13 Mar 2026	Kerdman, Alina	Officer (Controller/CAO)	200	Not disclosed	Annual equity award vesting / tax withholding
13 Mar 2026	Ayyar, Balu Ganesh	Officer (President — IO&A and IS)	8,619	Not disclosed	Annual equity award vesting / tax withholding
13 Mar 2026	Kim, John Sunshin	Officer (CLO/CAO/CS)	12,619	Not disclosed	Annual equity award vesting / tax withholding

The pattern in the JSON is consistent with annual RSU vesting / sell-to-cover withholding cycles dated 13 March 2026 — the simultaneous event date across the senior officers strongly suggests a scheduled vesting event rather than discretionary buying or 10b5-1 sales. There are no discretionary open-market purchases with disclosed dollar values in this dataset. Investors should consult the underlying Form 4 filings on SEC EDGAR for the exact transaction codes (e.g. F-codes for tax withholdings vs S-codes for sales) and any related-party context.

10. Risks and Challenges

Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1A, filed 2026-02-12), Cognizant groups its risk disclosures into Risks Related to Business and Operations, Strategic and Industry Risks, Legal/Regulatory Risks, Financial Risks and Stock-related Risks. The most material risks for the current investment thesis:

• Macroeconomic and geopolitical exposure. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1A, filed 2026-02-12), volatile or uncertain economic and geopolitical conditions — including recession, inflation, higher interest rates, trade disputes, tariffs and related retaliatory actions — have in the past caused clients to reduce, postpone or cancel discretionary spending, and may do so again. Revenues are highly dependent on clients located in the United States and Europe.
• Concentration in financial services and healthcare. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1A, filed 2026-02-12), many clients are in financial services and healthcare; any decrease in growth, significant industry consolidation or restrictive regulation in these industries may reduce demand for Cognizant's services.
• AI-driven pricing and demand pressure. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), as AI-based technologies and other forms of automation evolve, demand for some services Cognizant currently performs for clients may be reduced and the company's ability to obtain favourable pricing or other terms may be diminished.
• Restructuring execution and people risk. The 6 May 2026 Verdict report (https://www.verdict.co.uk/cognizant-job-cuts-india/) describes up to 15,000 cuts and $230m–$320m of Q2 2026 severance under Project Leap; the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12) also references the existing NextGen restructuring program ($134m of charges in 2024). Executing two waves of cost-out without damaging delivery quality is a real operational challenge.
• India macro and currency exposure. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), approximately 23% of global operating costs are denominated in Indian rupees, and per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1A, filed 2026-02-12) economic and political developments in India — including high inflation, wage growth, GDP fluctuations, currency volatility and regulatory changes (such as the November 2025 Code on Social Security) — can have a significant impact on operations and costs.
• Visa and immigration policy risk. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), Cognizant manages visa-dependent roles "with careful consideration of business needs and associated risks." Tightening of U.S. work-permit policy has historically been a structural drag on Indian-IT-services deployment models.
• Tax uncertainty. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), the OBBBA enactment in July 2025 triggered a one-time $390m non-cash tax expense in Q3 2025, and the March 2024 India-Mauritius Income Tax Treaty Protocol may, depending on its final terms, increase Cognizant's effective income tax rate as CTS India is a subsidiary of a wholly-owned Mauritius entity. Future regulatory and judicial developments could materially affect the cash and effective tax rates.
• Competitive intensity and AI-native disruption. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), competition is intense and includes AI-native start-ups and hyperscaler cloud platforms; if Cognizant cannot keep pace with significant technological advances or differentiate its services, win-rates and pricing may suffer.
• Customer concentration within segments. Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 1, filed 2026-02-12), the volume of work for specific clients may vary significantly year to year, and the loss of a significant client or a few significant clients in a particular segment could materially reduce revenues for that segment.
• Capital-allocation discipline. With total returns of $1.988bn (buybacks plus dividends) in FY2025 against $2.595bn of free cash flow (per JSON), and the framework targeting 50% of FCF for acquisitions, discipline on the price paid for tuck-ins (Belcan, Astreya) is material to long-term per-share returns.

11. Recent Developments

The most recent items from the JSON-supplied news feed (URLs are copied byte-for-byte from recent_news[]):

• 6 May 2026 — Cognizant weighs up to 15,000 job cuts, most in India (Verdict). Per the article, planned cuts follow "Project Leap" under which Cognizant expects $230m–$320m in severance costs in Q2 2026. Read at https://www.verdict.co.uk/cognizant-job-cuts-india/
• 6 May 2026 — Cognizant joins CrowdStrike's expanded "Project QuiltWorks" coalition (Simply Wall St.). CrowdStrike was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cyberthreat Intelligence Technologies and added Cognizant — alongside Armadin, HCLTech, Infosys, KPMG, NTT DATA, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro — to its Project QuiltWorks coalition, which applies frontier AI to enterprise cybersecurity risk management. Read at https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/crowdstrike-gartner-leader-status-quiltworks-011007711.html
• 5 May 2026 — Cognizant Q1 earnings beat, AI partnerships and F1 deal (Simply Wall St.). Coverage notes Q1 2026 revenue and EPS exceeding consensus, fresh AI/cloud investments, an expanded Formula 1 partnership with Aston Martin Aramco and a fresh dividend declaration; the piece also notes recent share-price weakness despite a 30-day rebound. Read at https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/look-cognizant-technology-solutions-ctsh-192045718.html
• 4 May 2026 — Top value stock screen feature (Zacks). Cognizant flagged in a Zacks Style Scores feature on long-term value stocks. Read at https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/why-cognizant-ctsh-top-value-134003795.html
• 4 May 2026 — International revenue deep dive (Zacks). Coverage of Cognizant's international revenue trends and how those numbers feed forward consensus. Read at https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/international-markets-cognizant-ctsh-deep-131503163.html
• 1 May 2026 — Top growth stock screen feature (Zacks). Cognizant flagged in a Zacks Style Scores feature on growth stocks. Read at https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/cognizant-ctsh-top-ranked-growth-134504792.html
• 30 Apr 2026 — Q1 2026 earnings beat estimates, FY26 margin guidance raised (Zacks). The piece notes Cognizant beat Q1 EPS estimates and raised the 2026 margin outlook, but revenue narrowly missed and the share-price reaction has been weak. Read at https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/cognizant-q1-earnings-beat-estimates-163700812.html
• 30 Apr 2026 — Wall Street view summary (Barchart). Aggregated brokerage coverage notes the stock has underperformed the broader market over the past year and that analyst sentiment remains "cautiously optimistic." Read at https://www.barchart.com/story/news/1616149/are-wall-street-analysts-bullish-on-cognizant-stock
• 30 Apr 2026 — Cognizant to acquire Astreya to bolster enterprise AI infrastructure (Verdict). Cognizant agreed to acquire the international operations of Astreya to strengthen AI infrastructure and managed-services capabilities. Read at https://www.verdict.co.uk/cognizant-to-acquire-astreya/
• 29 Apr 2026 — Q1 2026 earnings call summary (Moby). Independent recap of Cognizant's Q1 2026 earnings call. Read at https://app.moby.co/home/research/tools/earningsCalendar/earnings-cognizant-technology-solutions-corporation-q1-2026-earnings-call-summary?utm_source=yahoo_finance&utm_medium=rss

From the FY2025 10-K (filed 12 February 2026):

• Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), the OBBBA enacted in July 2025 in the United States repealed the requirement to capitalise U.S. R&E costs, leading Cognizant to record a one-time, non-cash $390m income tax expense in Q3 2025 related to the derecognition of a non-U.S. R&E deferred tax asset; cash taxes during 2025 were reduced by approximately $200m versus initial projections as a result of this repeal.
• Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), in November 2025 the Government of India implemented labour-law reforms, including the Code on Social Security 2020, leading Cognizant to record a one-time $147m increase to defined-benefit liabilities in Q4 2025.
• Per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12), during 2025 Cognizant repaid the $300m balance outstanding under its $1.85bn revolving credit facility and ended the year with no outstanding revolver balance.

12. Key Dates Coming Up

Date	Event
18 May 2026	Ex-dividend date — per JSON calendar
27 May 2026	Dividend payment date — per JSON calendar
29 July 2026	Next quarterly earnings (Q2 2026) — per JSON calendar
Q2 2026	Project Leap severance charges of $230m–$320m expected to be recorded — per Verdict, 6 May 2026 (https://www.verdict.co.uk/cognizant-job-cuts-india/)
October 2027	Maturity of $650m Term Loan and $1.85bn unsecured revolving credit facility — per the FY2025 10-K (Item 7, filed 2026-02-12)

The FY2025 Annual Meeting / proxy details are filed via DEF 14A dated 17 April 2026 (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1058290/000130817926000290/ctsh014861-def14a.htm) — meeting date itself is not disclosed in this report's source data; consult the proxy directly for the AGM date and agenda items.

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Disclaimer. This research report is built entirely from Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation's own SEC filings, the supplied data feed, and dated news headlines from primary publishers. It contains no analyst opinions, no price targets and no third-party buy/sell/hold recommendations. All forward-looking statements are attributed to Cognizant management or to the FY2025 10-K filed on 12 February 2026. Figures from the supplied data feed are sourced from Yahoo Finance and SEC EDGAR; figures cited from the 10-K are referenced inline with the form, item and filing date. Where data was unavailable in this report's source data, that gap has been stated explicitly. Nothing in this report constitutes investment advice. Always do your own research, consider your own circumstances, and consult a regulated financial adviser before making investment decisions.