Cognizant outshines peers with stellar 7% growth in 2025
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Teaneck-headquartered Cognizant Technology Services posted industry-beating growth in 2025, reporting a 7.0% year-on-year (YoY) increase in revenue in dollar terms and 6.4% growth in constant currency, emerging as one of the strongest performers among large IT services and consulting firms.
The company recorded full-year revenue of $21.1 billion while operating margin expanded by 140 basis points YoY to 16.1%. Cognizant’s acquisition of Belcan provided a meaningful boost, adding a 260-basis-point tailwind to revenue growth during the year. The company's demand momentum remained strong, with trailing-twelve-month order book standing at $28.4 billion.
Revenue guidance
In the fourth quarter, Cognizant signed 12 large deals, including two megadeals valued at over $500 million each. For 2026, the company has guided for revenue in the range of $22.14 billion to $22.66 billion, translating into projected growth of 4.9% to 7.4% in dollar terms.
At the company’s earnings call, CEO Ravi Kumar S. said the company delivered a strong fourth quarter, with large deal wins rising 60% YoY, including one contract worth over $1 billion, while the financial services segment posted a 7% annual increase, highest since 2016. “We now have over 4,000 AI engagements across all three vectors and over 30% of our developer effort in software development cycles are AI assistant agentic, and productivity improved as fixed weight and transaction-based work now, represent more than 50% of our revenue,” he said.
January 2026
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The adjusted operating margin of 15.8% was an increase by 50 basis points YoY. “We achieved this result while investing in our people, including through a merit cycle for most associates at our highest discretionary annual bonus funding levels in 2018,” Ravikumar said, adding that more than 35,000 associates were promoted in 2025.
Ravikumar, who completed three years as CEO in January, said the company has reached the industry’s “winners’ circle” ahead of schedule, achieving its 2027 goal earlier than planned. “Our platforms strategy with AI-led investments to broaden or capabilities in early 2025. We laid out our strategic objectives to amplify talent, scale, innovation, and accelerate growth,” he said.
Focus on solving AI velocity gap
In 2026, the company said its focus would be on solving the AI velocity gap, the gap between massive infrastructure structure spending in the past few years and business value realisation for clients. “While AI technology is now mature enough to offer transformative value, the methodologies and tools to harness is only just emerging, and the value to Enterprises hasn't drifted yet,” Ravikumar said on the earnings call.
For 2026, Cognizant has set out a full year revenue guidance of $22.14 to $22.66 billion, growth of 4.9% to 7.4%, or 4.0% in dollar terms or 6.5% in constant currency terms. The company expects a 10 to 30-basis point expansion of its operating margin, which is expected to be in the range of 15.9% to 16.1% in the coming years.