Cognizant reported revenue of $5.6 billion for the third quarter of 2026, up 4.6% from a year earlier, as growth in financial services and communications, media and technology supported its performance.
The IT major expects full-year 2026 revenue growth of 4% to 4.4% in constant currency terms. For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenue between $5.49 billion and $5.57 billion.
Chief executive officer Ravi Kumar S said, "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."
He also said more than 50% of the company’s code was AI-assisted, while employees had earned over 95,000 frontier AI badges and certifications.
Cognizant’s adjusted operating margin increased by 30 basis points to 16.3%, marking its seventh consecutive quarter of year-on-year expansion. Its reported operating margin, however, declined by 60 basis points to 15.4%.
Cognizant’s quarterly bookings declined 7% year-on-year. However, bookings over the 12 months ending September 2026 rose 4% to $28.7 billion. The company recorded three large deals during the quarter, each with a total contract value of at least $100 million.
The financial services business generated $1.8 billion in revenue, an increase of 12% year-on-year. Revenue from communications, media and technology rose 10.5% to $939 million. These were the company’s fastest-growing business segments during the quarter.
North America remained Cognizant’s largest market, contributing $4.26 billion, or 75.2% of total revenue. Revenue from the region increased 5.7% year-on-year. In Europe, revenue grew 1.4% to $1.06 billion, while revenue from the rest of the world rose 1.2% to $349 million.
The company’s health sciences business recorded a 1.1% decline in revenue to $1.59 billion. Products and resources revenue fell 0.9% to $1.37 billion.
Recently completed acquisitions contributed approximately 2.1 percentage points to overall revenue growth during the quarter. Sales of third-party products as part of the company’s integrated offerings strategy added approximately 1.9 percentage points.
The company had 359,900 employees at the end of September, up 3,200 from the previous quarter and 10,100 from a year earlier.
