Cognizant Technology Solutions 10-Q 2026-03-31
Filed 2026-04-29. 2 sections, 193K characters. Original on sec.gov · Markdown · JSON
Cover and table of contents
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-Q
| ☒ | Quarterly Report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 | |||||||
| For the quarterly period ended | March 31, 2026 | |||||||
| or | ||||||||
| ☐ | Transition Report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 | |||||||
| For the transition period from to |
Commission File Number: 0-24429

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)
| Delaware | 13-3728359 | ||||||||||
| (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) | ||||||||||
300 Frank W. Burr Blvd., Suite 36, 6th Floor
Teaneck, New Jersey 07666
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (201) 801-0233
N/A
(Former Name, Former Address and Former Fiscal Year,
if Changed Since Last Report)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:
| Title of each class | Trading Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange on which registered | ||||||
| Class A Common Stock, $0.01 par value per share | CTSH | The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No: ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No: ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
| Large Accelerated Filer | ☒ | Accelerated filer | ☐ | ||||||||
| Non-accelerated filer | ☐ | Smaller reporting company | ☐ | ||||||||
| Emerging growth company | ☐ |
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of April 24, 2026:
| Class | Number of Shares | |||||||
| Class A Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share | 473,869,469 |
COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GLOSSARY
| Defined Term | Definition | |||||||
| 10b5-1 Plan | Trading plan adopted pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act | |||||||
| Adjusted Diluted EPS | Adjusted diluted earnings per share | |||||||
| AI | Artificial intelligence | |||||||
| ASC | Accounting Standards Codification | |||||||
| CC | Constant Currency | |||||||
| CE | Continental Europe | |||||||
| CITA | Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) in India | |||||||
| CMT | Communications, Media and Technology | |||||||
| CODM | Chief Operating Decision Maker | |||||||
| Credit Agreement | Credit agreement with a commercial bank syndicate dated April 18, 2024, as amended | |||||||
| CTS India | Our principal operating subsidiary in India | |||||||
| DSO | Days Sales Outstanding | |||||||
| DTSA | Defend Trade Secrets Act | |||||||
| EPS | Earnings per share | |||||||
| EU | European Union | |||||||
| Exchange Act | Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended | |||||||
| FS | Financial Services | |||||||
| GAAP | Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America | |||||||
| GenAI | Generative artificial intelligence | |||||||
| HS | Health Sciences | |||||||
| High Court | Madras, India High Court | |||||||
| India Defined Contribution Obligation | Certain statutory defined contribution obligations of employees and employers in India | |||||||
| IP | Intellectual property | |||||||
| ITAT | Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in India | |||||||
| ITD | Indian Income Tax Department | |||||||
| Labor Code | Labor law reforms implemented by the Government of India effective November 21, 2025, including the Code on Social Security, 2020. | |||||||
| NA | North America | |||||||
| Ninth Circuit | United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit | |||||||
| P&R | Products & Resources | |||||||
| Project Leap | Program introduced in Q2 2026 aimed at streamlining operations and enhancing productivity through AI-led efficiencies. | |||||||
| Recently completed acquisitions | Acquisitions that were completed in the 12 months preceding the beginning of the reporting period (in order to identify the impact of such acquisitions for the first twelve months of ownership) | |||||||
| RoW | Rest of World | |||||||
| SCI | Supreme Court of India | |||||||
| SEC | United States Securities and Exchange Commission | |||||||
| Second Circuit | United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit | |||||||
| SG&A | Selling, general and administrative | |||||||
| Syntel | Syntel Sterling Best Shores Mauritius Ltd. | |||||||
| Term Loan | Unsecured term loan under the Credit Agreement | |||||||
| Title VII | Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. | |||||||
| TriZetto | The TriZetto Group, Inc., now known as Cognizant Technology Software Group, Inc. | |||||||
| UK | United Kingdom | |||||||
| USDC-CDCA | United States District Court for the Central District of California | |||||||
| USDC-NJ | United States District Court for the District of New Jersey | |||||||
| USDC-SDNY | United States District Court for the Southern District of New York | |||||||
| Voluntary Attrition - Tech Services | Includes all voluntary separations with the exception of employees in our Intuitive Operations and Automation practice and certain categories of negotiated separations |
| Cognizant Technology Solutions | 1 | March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q |
| Forward Looking Statements |
The statements contained in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 21E of the Exchange Act) that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by, among other things, the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “could,” “would,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “should” or “anticipate” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy that involve risks and uncertainties. From time to time, we or our representatives have made or may make forward-looking statements, orally or in writing.
Such forward-looking statements may be included in various filings made by us with the SEC, in press releases or in oral statements made by or with the approval of one of our authorized executive officers. These forward-looking statements, such as statements regarding our anticipated future revenues, operating margin, earnings, capital expenditures, impacts to our business, financial results and financial condition as a result of the competitive marketplace for talent and future attrition trends, anticipated effective income tax rate and income tax expense, liquidity, financing strategy, access to capital, capital return strategy, investment strategies, cost management, plans and objectives, investment in our business, potential acquisitions, industry trends, client behaviors and trends, the outcome of and costs associated with regulatory and litigation matters, the appropriateness of the accrual related to the India Defined Contribution Obligation, matters related to Project Leap and other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections, management’s beliefs and certain assumptions made by management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Actual results, performance, achievements and outcomes could differ materially from the results expressed in, or anticipated or implied by, these forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including:
-
macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions globally, in particular in the markets in which our clients and operations are concentrated;
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intense and evolving competition and significant technological advances that our service offerings must keep pace with in the rapidly changing markets we compete in;
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our ability to successfully use AI-based technologies in our client offerings and our own internal operations and the impact AI-based technologies may have on the demand for our services or our ability to obtain favorable pricing or other terms for our services;
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our ability to attract, train and retain skilled employees, including highly skilled technical personnel and personnel with experience in key AI and digital areas and senior management to lead our business globally, at an acceptable cost;
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unexpected terminations of client contracts on short notice or reduced spending by clients;
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our ability to meet specified service levels or milestones required by certain of our contracts;
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our ability to achieve our profitability goals and maintain our capital return strategy;
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our ability to successfully implement Project Leap and the amount of costs, timing of incurring costs, and ultimate benefits of such project;
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challenges related to growing our business organically as well as inorganically through acquisitions, and our ability to achieve our targeted growth rates and successfully integrate acquired businesses;
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legal, reputation and financial risks if we fail to protect client and/or our data from security breaches and/or cyber attacks;
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fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, or the failure of our hedging strategies to mitigate such fluctuations;
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the impact of future pandemics, epidemics or other outbreaks of disease, on our business, results of operations, liquidity and financial condition;
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the impact of extreme weather on our business;
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our ability to meet sustainability and societal related expectations and ambitions;
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the effectiveness of our risk management, business resilience and disaster recovery plans and the potential that our global delivery capabilities could be impacted;
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restrictions on visas, in particular in the United States, UK and EU, or immigration more generally or increased costs of such visas or the wages we are required to pay employees on visas, which may affect our ability to compete for and provide services to our clients;
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risks related to anti-outsourcing legislation, if adopted, and negative perceptions associated with offshore outsourcing, both of which could impair our ability to serve our clients;
| Cognizant Technology Solutions | 2 | March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q |
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risks and costs related to complying with numerous and evolving legal and regulatory requirements and client expectations in the many jurisdictions in which we operate;
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actual and potential changes in tax laws, or in their interpretation or enforcement, failure by us to adapt our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements, or adverse outcomes of tax audits, investigations or proceedings;
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actual and potential exposure to litigation and legal claims in the conduct of our business;
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risks related to infringement upon the IP rights of others or having our IP rights infringed upon; and
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the other risks described herein, as well as the factors set forth in "Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.
You are advised to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in the reports we file with the SEC, including this report in the section titled “Part I, Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
| Cognizant Technology Solutions | 3 | March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q |
PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1. Financial Statements.
COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION
(Unaudited)
| (in millions, except par values) | March 31, 2026 | December 31, 2025 | |||||||||
| Assets | |||||||||||
| Current assets: | |||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 1,504 | $ | 1,901 | |||||||
| Short-term investments | 13 | 13 | |||||||||
| Trade accounts receivable, net | 4,609 | 4,439 | |||||||||
| Other current assets | 1,709 | 1,465 | |||||||||
| Total current assets | 7,835 | 7,818 | |||||||||
| Property and equipment, net | 955 | 933 | |||||||||
| Operating lease assets, net | 539 | 573 | |||||||||
| Goodwill | 7,681 | 7,106 | |||||||||
| Intangible assets, net | 1,485 | 1,417 | |||||||||
| Deferred income tax assets, net | 853 | 967 | |||||||||
| Long-term investments | 113 | 111 | |||||||||
| Other noncurrent assets | 1,039 | 1,767 | |||||||||
| Total assets | $ | 20,500 | $ | 20,692 | |||||||
| Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity | |||||||||||
| Current liabilities: | |||||||||||
| Accounts payable | $ | 363 | $ | 308 | |||||||
| Deferred revenue | 580 | 501 | |||||||||
| Short-term debt | 33 | 33 | |||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities | 140 | 153 | |||||||||
| Accrued expenses and other current liabilities | 2,404 | 2,664 | |||||||||
| Total current liabilities | 3,520 | 3,659 | |||||||||
| Deferred revenue, noncurrent | 37 | 37 | |||||||||
| Operating lease liabilities, noncurrent | 384 | 423 | |||||||||
| Deferred income tax liabilities, net | 195 | 168 | |||||||||
| Long-term debt | 535 | 543 | |||||||||
| Other noncurrent liabilities | 761 | 847 | |||||||||
| Total liabilities | 5,432 | 5,677 | |||||||||
| Commitments and contingencies (See Note 10) | |||||||||||
| Stockholders’ equity: | |||||||||||
| Preferred stock, $0.10 par value, 15 shares authorized, none issued | — | — | |||||||||
| Class A common stock, $0.01 par value, 1,000 shares authorized, 474 and 479 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, respectively | 5 | 5 | |||||||||
| Additional paid-in capital | 17 | 12 | |||||||||
| Retained earnings | 15,272 | 15,158 | |||||||||
| Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) | (226) | (160) | |||||||||
| Total stockholders’ equity | 15,068 | 15,015 | |||||||||
| Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity | $ | 20,500 | $ | 20,692 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the unaudited consolidated financial statements.
| Cognizant Technology Solutions | 4 | March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q |
COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(Unaudited)
| (in millions, except per share data) | Three Months Ended March 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenues | $ | 5,413 | $ | 5,115 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Operating expenses: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of revenues (exclusive of depreciation and amortization expense shown separately below) | 3,638 | 3,397 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative expenses | 791 | 791 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization expense | 141 | 136 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| (Gain) on sale of property and equipment | — | (62) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Income from operations | 843 | 853 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | 22 | 30 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest expense | (7) | (12) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency exchange gains (losses), net | 18 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Other, net | (9) | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Total other income (expense), net | 24 | 19 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Income before provision for income taxes | 867 | 872 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | (208) | (213) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Income (loss) from equity method investments | 3 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 662 | $ | 663 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Basic earnings per share | $ | 1.39 | $ | 1.34 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Diluted earnings per share | $ | 1.39 | $ | 1.34 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Weighted average number of common shares outstanding - Basic | 477 | 494 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dilutive effect of shares issuable under stock-based compensation plans | — | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weighted average number of common shares outstanding - Diluted | 477 | 495 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of the unaudited consolidated financial statements.
| Cognizant Technology Solutions | 5 | March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q |
COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
(Unaudited)
| (in millions) | Three Months Ended March 31, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2026 | 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Net income | $ | 662 | $ | 663 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Change in Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax: | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Foreign currency translation adjustments | (39) | 103 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Unrealized gains and losses on cash flow hedges | (65) | 28 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| C |
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