Cognizant.
Credit: PTI
Bengaluru: Nasdaq-listed IT services firm Cognizant on Wednesday reported an 18.7 per cent increase in its net profit for the quarter ended December 2025 at $648 million. The company, which follows the calendar year, posted $546 million net profit in the year-ago period.
Cognizant beat its Q4 revenue guidance by reporting fourth quarter revenue of $5.33 billion, a 4.9 per cent YoY increase compared to $5.08 billion revenue in the same quarter last year.
The firm expects first quarter revenue to be $5.36-5.44 billion, a growth of 4.8 per cent to 6.3 per cent, while full-year 2026 revenue is expected to be $22.14-22.66 billion, a growth of 4.9 per cent to 7.4 per cent, or 4 per cent to 6.5 per cent in constant currency.
During the company's post-earnings press conference, Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S said they signed 28 large deals in 2025 with large deal TCV (total contract value) growth of nearly 50 per cent year-on-year. "We continue on our trajectory of non-linearity of revenue and margins. We have added 14,000 employees, which is roughly 4 per cent of our workforce. We actually added 6.4 per cent revenues for a 4 per cent workforce. The non-linearity is showing up in our model. We are adding people at the bottom of the pyramid. Last year, we added 19,000 people at the bottom of the pyramid," the CEO said.
The company is also adding more freshers. In 2025, it added 20,000 of them, of whom 16,000 are already helping customers. "About 4,000 are undergoing training, and for 2026, we plan to increase this by 20 per cent so we will be hiring 24,000-25,0000," Cognizant CFO Jatin Dalal said.
"In 2025, we outperformed the high end of our guidance ranges, combining top-tier revenue growth with 50 basis points of expanded adjusted operating margin and 11 per cent adjusted EPS growth," Dalal said.
"Our operational rigour allowed us to maintain a robust free cash flow conversion of more than 100 per cent of net income and return $2 billion to shareholders. Our initial 2026 guidance reflects sustained momentum, backed by our commitment to advancing our strategic investments aimed at accelerating our AI-led growth strategy," the CFO added.
The company's full-year 2025 revenue stood at $21.1 billion, a 7 per cent YoY increase and its full-year operating margin was 16.1 per cent. The company's headcount also increased by 14,800 employees YoY and its voluntary attrition-tech services stood at 13.9 per cent.