Cognizant 二季度业绩电话会显示收入执行稳健但全年收入指引上限下调

Earnings Call Insights: Cognizant (CTSH) Q2 2026
"We delivered a solid second quarter with organic revenue growth at the high end of our expectations and year-over-year adjusted operating margin expansion." (CEO & Director Ravi Kumar S)
"Revenue grew 4.1% year-over-year in constant currency, led by strong performance in North America as large deals signed over the past year moved into full execution." (CEO & Director Kumar)
"We completed our previously announced acquisition of Astreya, a global IT managed services provider with deep expertise in data center infrastructure, enterprise networks, digital workplace services and AI-first managed operations." (CEO & Director Kumar)
"We estimate the $1 trillion system integration market can expand into $5 trillion to $6 trillion enterprise operations market with $4.5 trillion of operational labor exposed to AI." (CEO & Director Kumar)
"This is why we launched the Cognizant AI Delivery Operating System" and "we launched our sovereign physical AI Platform-as-a-Service to position Cognizant ahead of this iPhone moment for robotics and infrastructure." (CEO & Director Kumar)
"In Q2, revenue grew 4.1% year-over-year in constant currency to $5.5 billion." (Chief Financial Officer Jatin Dalal)
"We also deployed more than $1.1 billion through share repurchases" and "bought back over 22 million shares at an average price of approximately $51 per share." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
"For the third quarter, we expect revenue to grow 3.8% to 5.3% year-over-year in constant currency" and "this includes approximately 200 basis points from our recently completed acquisitions." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
"We have, therefore, revised our full year revenue guidance range to 4% to 5.5% growth in constant currency." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
"Our EPS guidance has increased to $5.70 to $5.82, representing 8% to 10% growth versus 7% to 9% growth previously." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
"Our adjusted operating margin guidance is unchanged at 16% to 16.2%" and "our free cash flow conversion guidance for the year remains 90% to 100% of net income." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
"Finally, we continue to make progress and advance on our evaluation of a potential primary offering and secondary listing in India" and "we will make a decision on this once we have visibility of the revised regulatory framework." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
"Second quarter adjusted EPS was $1.37" and "second quarter free cash flow was $459 million, bringing year-to-date free cash flow to $652 million." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
"During the quarter, we incurred approximately $84 million in costs related to the Project Leap program" and "we recorded $81 million onetime benefit for a partial reversal of the India defined contribution obligation liability we had originally recorded in 2019." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
"Excluding these impacts, second quarter adjusted operating margin was 16%, up 40 basis points year-over-year." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
"Trailing 12 months bookings increased 5%" and "represented a book-to-bill of 1.3x." (CEO & Director Kumar; Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
"DSO was 88 days, up 5 days year-over-year, primarily driven by a change in the business mix." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
Margaret Nolan, William Blair: bookings momentum and large-deal ramp into 2H; CEO & Director Kumar: "we have done pretty well on bookings" and "I actually feel very confident about bookings for the rest of the year as well," adding "Financial Services is really running hot" and citing "7 large deals, 3 new logos." (CEO Kumar)
Margaret Nolan, William Blair: what’s driving BPO traction; CEO & Director Kumar: "BPO has always been a blockbuster service line for Cognizant over the last 3 years" and "we are very excited about the BPO business" as the market expands "from a $1 trillion market" to "$5 trillion to $6 trillion." (CEO Kumar)
James Schneider, Goldman Sachs: what customers do when pausing AI and timing to see uptick; CEO & Director Kumar: "the conversation has moved from" experimentation to "token economics" and clients are revisiting "how to optimize it and get value out of it" through "assembling context" and "creating learning loops." (CEO Kumar)
James Schneider, Goldman Sachs: hiring/headcount and gross margin; Chief Financial Officer Dalal: "we have flattish headcount" and "we remain on track to get to approximately 20,000 by the end of the year," while expecting headcount "remain range bound" as Project Leap proceeds. (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
James Friedman, Susquehanna: Q4 organic sequential dynamics; Chief Financial Officer Dalal: Q4 model includes deal ramps, and "we have assumed a slightly lower proportion of furloughs coming in quarter 4" supporting "slightly superior sequential growth in quarter 4" vs typical seasonality. (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
Darrin Peller, Wolfe: large-deal competitiveness and productivity demands; CEO & Director Kumar: "the race now is about the number of units" and "our margin profile on all our large deals" is "trending much better than what we originally signed the contracts for" due to AI-led productivity. (CEO Kumar)
Bryan Bergin, TD Cowen: timing of AI efficiencies across managed services base; Chief Financial Officer Dalal: revenue is "roughly" split with "time and material and fixed price" at "50-50," with T&M renewing frequently and fixed-price averaging "between 24 to 36 months" and AI embedding journey "roughly halfway into it." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
Bryan Bergin, TD Cowen: Project Leap pacing; Chief Financial Officer Dalal: "we have taken approximately $84 million of costs in quarter 2" and "you should continue to see the rest of the year evenly spread" across Q3 and Q4, while CEO & Director Kumar added: "we get full year benefits next year." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal; CEO Kumar)
Analysts were neutral to slightly positive, with framing like "Good results here" and detailed modeling questions on "linearity" and "sequential Q4" plus probing on AI pauses and competitive dynamics. (James Friedman, Susquehanna; Darrin Peller, Wolfe; James Schneider, Goldman Sachs)
Management tone was slightly positive to positive, emphasizing confidence despite caution: "we delivered these results against a cautious demand environment" and "we have confidence of staying at the winner circle for the rest of the year." (CEO & Director Kumar)
Compared with Q1, management kept a similar confidence posture ("Winner's Circle") while tightening the macro language: Q1 said "we achieved these results against a softening demand environment" and Q2 said "macro uncertainty has remained elevated" as the reason for revised revenue guidance. (CEO & Director Kumar; Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
Q2 shifted from announcing Astreya to integrating it: Q1 said "we just announced a definitive agreement to acquire Astreya" while Q2 said "we completed our previously announced acquisition of Astreya" and "momentum is already building." (CEO & Director Kumar)
Guidance language tightened on discretionary spending: Q1 full-year constant-currency revenue guidance was "unchanged at 4% to 6.5%" and assumed "some improvement in discretionary spending in the second half" at midpoint; Q2 said "macro uncertainty has remained elevated" and revised the range to "4% to 5.5%." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
Bookings growth decelerated on a trailing basis, with Q1 stating "bookings grew 21% year-over-year" and Q2 stating "trailing 12 months bookings increased 5%," while keeping the same large-deal count: "7" deals over "$100 million" in both quarters. (CEO & Director Kumar)
"We delivered these results against a cautious demand environment" and "we expect that caution to persist in the near term." (CEO & Director Kumar)
"Macro uncertainty has remained elevated" and "discretionary spending has remained pressured." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
Below-the-line cost visibility in India: "we expect this below-the-line cost related to our India defined benefit plan will be around $10 million per quarter for the foreseeable future." (Chief Financial Officer Dalal)
Management positioned Q2 around North America-led execution of prior large deals, double-digit Financial Services growth, and a faster push toward AI-enabled delivery, platforms, and outcome-based models. The company highlighted Astreya’s closing, substantial capital return activity, and Project Leap execution, while updating guidance to reflect continued macro uncertainty and pressured discretionary spending, alongside a higher full-year EPS range and unchanged operating margin framework.