Cognizant reports 4.8% CC growth in Q3; trims 2026 revenue guidance

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Cognizant narrows expected growth guidance range from 4-5.5% guided earlier to 4-4.4%

By BL Chennai Bureau

Updated - October 29, 2026 at 09:51 PM.

Cognizant beat its peers in the quarter in revenue growth (on a CC basis).

IT major Cognizant Technology Solutions reported a revenue of $5.7 billion for the quarter ended September 2026, a 4.8 per cent year-on-year increase in constant currency terms in line with its guidance estimates for the quarter. 

Despite this, the company trimmed its full-year growth guidance for 2026, narrowing the expected range from the 4-5.5 per cent guided earlier to 4-4.4 per cent. For the fourth quarter ending December 2026, it has guided a revenue growth of 3.2-4.7 per cent in CC terms.

Net profit stood at $627 million, up significantly from the $274 million a year ago. The profit in the year-ago quarter was impacted by a one-time non-cash income tax expense of $390 million. Operating margins went down 60 basis points to 15.4 per cent.

Tops peers

Cognizant beat its peers in the quarter in revenue growth (on a CC basis). Infosys posted growth of 1.2 per cent, Wipro 0.6 per cent, HCL Tech 2.6 per cent, while TCS came the closest with a growth of 2.8 per cent.

The company has also revised the costs it expects to incur as part of the Project Leap workforce restructuring programme from the earlier estimated $230 million to $320 million to now around $180 million to $250 million. 

“We delivered third-quarter revenue above the midpoint of our guidance range, including another quarter of double-digit growth in Financial Services and our seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year adjusted operating margin expansion,” said Ravi Kumar S, Chief Executive Officer. 

How sectors performed

Among the sectors, financial services recorded a constant currency growth of 12.3 per cent. The communications, media & technology segment saw a growth of 10.7 per cent while Products and resources and healthcare reported a decline of 0.8 and 0.9 per cent respectively. As for geographies North America grew by 5.8 per cent, followed by Europe which went up by 2.2 per while the rest of the world went up by 1.4 per cent.

Cognizant reported a headcount of 359,900 as of September 30, 2026, a net addition of 10,100 on a year-on-year basis and 3,200 in sequential terms. Voluntary attrition for tech services on a trailing 12-month basis was flat at 12.6 per cent. 

Cognizant’s headcount uptick of 10,100 on a year on year basis was also higher than its Tier 1 rivals with Infosys reporting a y-o-y headcount increase of 551 while Wipro saw a growth of 836 employees. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), meanwhile, saw a headcount increase of 4,742 while HCL Tech went up by 3,699.

On a trailing twelve-month basis, bookings increased 4 per cent year-over-year to $28.7 billion, which represented a book-to-bill of approximately 1.3x. The company’s bookings for the quarter included three large deals (over $100 million). 

Published on October 29, 2026

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