Cognizant Q3 profit up 7.3% to $5.4 billion, raises full-year outlook

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US-based IT major Cognizant, which has a substantial number of employees in India, on Wednesday reported a better-than-expected growth with its revenue rising 7.3 per cent year-over-year to $ 5,415 million for the quarter ended September 2025.

In the last quarter, the company had guided its third-quarter revenue to be between $ 5.27-5.35 billion.

Cognizant which follows a January-December financial year had earned a revenue of $ 5,044 million in Q3 2024.

The Nasdaq-listed IT services firm raised the lower end of its full-year revenue growth forecast, pegging it at $ 21.05-21.10 billion, as against $ 20.7-21.1 billion earlier.

Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S said this marks the company's fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year organic revenue growth, and its strongest sequential organic growth since 2022.

We maintained our large deal momentum, signing six large deals in the quarter, bringing our year-to-date total to 16, with 40 per cent growth in large deal TCV (Total Contract Value) year-to-date compared to the same period last year.

We believe our three vector AI builder strategy is gaining traction and we expect our early investments in AI-led platforms and IP on the edge will help power growth in the years ahead, he said.

Cognizant's third-quarter bookings included six deals of TCV $ 100 million or higher.

The company added 6,000 employees during the July-September period, bringing its total headcount to 349,800 at the end of the quarter.

Jatin Dalal, Chief Financial Officer, said the company observed broad-based growth across segments and geographies, including noteworthy performance in North America.

We have increased our full-year revenue guidance to 6-6.3 per cent year-over-year constant currency growth, above our prior range and deployed $ 1 billion through share repurchases through Q3, underscoring our confidence in our growth strategy, he said.

The company repurchased 6.3 million shares for $ 450 million during the third quarter under its share repurchase program. As of September 30, 2025, there was $ 2.2 billion remaining under the share repurchase authorisation.

In October 2025, the company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $ 0.31 per share for shareholders of record on November 18, 2025. This dividend will be payable on November 26, 2025.