Cognizant’s Revenue Up 7.5% To $5.1 Bn Y/Y

2025 Adjusted Operating Margin guidance is unchanged at 15.5% to 15.7%, expansion of 20 to 40 basis points year-over-year

Ravi Kumar S, CEO, Cognizant

FinTech BizNews Service

Mumbai, April 30, 2025:  Cognizant (Nasdaq: CTSH), one of the world's leading professional services companies, today announced its first quarter 2025 financial results.

"We started the year on a strong note, delivering revenue and adjusted operating margin ahead of our expectations, reflecting our steadfast focus on the execution of our strategy over the last several years," said Ravi Kumar S, Chief Executive Officer. "The breadth and depth of our portfolio, combined with our deep industry and domain expertise, position us well as a strategic partner for clients in an increasingly complex macroeconomic environment. Today, productivity, cost reduction and resiliency are especially important, and we believe our differentiated AI and platform capabilities are helping clients navigate the near-term uncertainty while embarking on longer-term AI-led transformation."

Our recently completed acquisitions contributed approximately 400 basis points to the 2025 year-over-year revenue growth.

In the first quarter of 2025, our GAAP operating margin was positively impacted by 120 basis points, or $62 million, from the gain on the sale of an office complex in India. 

"Our first quarter performance reflects strong operational rigor in a period of elevated uncertainty. We delivered revenue above the high-end of our guidance and expanded adjusted operating margin by 40 basis points year-over-year. This drove adjusted EPS growth of 10% year-over-year, which was ahead of revenue growth," said Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer. "In 2025, we expect to return about $1.7 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends, while preserving flexibility to invest for growth."

Bookings

On a trailing-twelve-month basis, bookings increased 3% year-over-year to $26.7 billion, which represented a book-to-bill of approximately 1.3x. Bookings in the first quarter declined 7% year-over-year. First quarter bookings included four large deals, which are deals with total contract value of $100 million or greater.

Employee Metrics

On a trailing-twelve months basis, Voluntary Attrition - Tech Services was 15.8% in the first quarter of 2025, as compared to 15.9% and 13.1% in the fourth and first quarter of 2024, respectively. Total headcount as of March 31, 2025 was 336,300.

Return of Capital to Shareholders

The Company repurchased 2.3 million shares for $190 million during the first quarter under its share repurchase program. As of March 31, 2025, there was $3.0 billion remaining under the share repurchase authorization. In April 2025, the Company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.31 per share for shareholders of record on May 19, 2025. This dividend will be payable on May 28, 2025.

Second Quarter and Full-Year 2025 Guidance
(all growth rates year-over-year)

• Second quarter revenue is expected to be $5.14 - $5.21 billion, growth of 5.9% to 7.4%, or 5.0% to 6.5% in constant currency.
• Full-year 2025 revenue is expected to be $20.5 - $21.0 billion, growth of 3.9% to 6.4%, or 3.5% to 6.0% in constant currency.
• Full-year 2025 Adjusted Operating Margin3 is expected to be in the range of 15.5% to 15.7%, or 20 to 40 basis points of expansion.
• Full-year 2025 Adjusted Diluted EPS3 is expected to be in the range of $4.98 to $5.14.

Select Company, Client and Partnership Announcements 

Cognizant is building a portfolio of capabilities combined with deep domain expertise to harness and advance an AI-led future. Cognizant's progress has been accelerated through client agreements, platform enhancements, and partnerships.  Recent announcements include:

Client Announcements

• The go-live of an end-to-end technology platform powered by the Veeva Development Cloud with Boehringer Ingelheim, a global biopharmaceutical company. The milestone marks the completion of Phase One of our contract, which was first announced in 2023. Boehringer's "One Medicine Platform," is designed to replace over 20 legacy platforms. The initiative unifies medicinal development processes and data sources into a connected ecosystem, with the aim of enhancing cross-functionality and operational efficiencies.
• An agreement with Citizens Financial Group Inc, a U.S-based financial institution, to launch a Global Capability Center (GCC) in Hyderabad, India, to accelerate innovation and the execution of the bank's enterprise technology strategy. The center is expected to scale up to 1,000 IT and data and analytics professionals by March 2026.
• An expanded contract with Docusign, the Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM) company, to enhance customer support and drive digital transformation. Cognizant and Docusign are working together to develop innovative IAM solutions that optimize customer service management and streamline agreement processes globally. As part of the agreement, Cognizant will provide comprehensive customer support services for Docusign, including assistance with eSignature, billing inquiries and technical support.
• A new agreement with Travelport, a global technology company that powers bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel suppliers worldwide. The arrangement, which is expected to leverage Cognizant Neuro IT Operations platform, aims to enhance Travelport's global infrastructure, focusing on operational efficiency, reliability, and customer experience to drive modern retailing for Travelport's customers worldwide.
• The renewal of our relationship with KBC Group, a leading Belgian universal multi-channel bank-insurer, through 2027, positioning Cognizant as KBC Group's partner in supporting its IT and business transformation across the entire spectrum of IT services, including application development and maintenance, data services, infrastructure, and quality engineering.
• A strategic agreement with OMRON Corporation, a leading automation company engaged in control equipment, healthcare, social systems, and electronic components. Through this collaboration, Cognizant and OMRON plan to integrate Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) in the manufacturing industry. The collaboration includes Cognizant being chosen as the engineering partner for OMRON's Industrial Automation Business (IAB) products.
• The extension of an agreement with Etex, a global leader in sustainable building materials and lightweight construction. The five-year collaboration will involve implementing specific GenAI and chatbot solutions to enhance user experience and automate tasks, ensuring stable and optimized delivery.

Platform Enhancements and Partnerships

• Advancements built on NVIDIA AI aimed at accelerating the cross-industry adoption of AI technology. Cognizant will offer solutions in five key areas: enterprise AI agents, industry-specific large language models (LLMs), digital twins for smart manufacturing, foundational infrastructure for AI, and the capabilities of Cognizant's Neuro® AI platform to integrate NVIDIA AI technology and orchestrate across the enterprise technology stack.
• The launch of an AI-powered dispute management solution in partnership with ServiceNow. This Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) offering is specifically designed for mid-market banks in North America with the goal of streamlining the dispute resolution process and enhancing customer satisfaction.
• A three-year strategic partnership with Upsource by Solutions, a business process outsourcing (BPO) company in Saudi Arabia. Through this alliance, businesses across the region will gain access to Cognizant's advanced Intuitive Operations & Automation (IOA) solutions, including a Gen AI-powered financial suite, automation frameworks, and enhanced operational controls.
• A new collaboration with Elektrobit, an automotive software company, to integrate Elektrobit's Software Development Kit (SDK) for EB corbos AdaptiveCore, Elektrobit's software base for high-performance controllers, into Cognizant's software-defined vehicle (SDV) solution accelerator. This enhanced accelerator aims to help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Tier 1 suppliers create scalable, flexible, and cost-efficient SDV architectures. The goal is to meet customer demands by speeding up the development cycle.

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