Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
Controls and Procedures
Other Information
Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections
PART III
Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
Executive Compensation
Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence
Principal Accountant Fees and Services
PART IV
Exhibits, Financial Statements Schedules
Form 10-K Summary
SIGNATURES
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULE
GLOSSARY
Defined Term
Definition
10b5-1 Plan
Trading plan adopted pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act
2009 Incentive Plan
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation Amended and Restated 2009 Incentive Compensation Plan
2017 Incentive Plan
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation 2017 Incentive Award Plan
2023 Incentive Plan
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation 2023 Incentive Award Plan
2026 Proxy Statement
Definitive proxy statement for the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders
Adjusted Diluted EPS
Adjusted diluted earnings per share
Artificial Intelligence
APA
Advance Pricing Agreement
ASC
Accounting Standards Codification
Constant Currency
Continental Europe
CEO
Chief Executive Officer
CFO
Chief Financial Officer
CIO
Chief Information Officer
CITA
Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) in India
CLO
Chief Legal Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary
CMT
Communications, Media and Technology
CODM
Chief Operating Decision Maker
CPI
Consumer Price Index
Credit Agreement
Credit agreement with a commercial bank syndicate dated April 18, 2024, as amended
CSO
Chief Security Officer
CTS India
Our principal operating subsidiary in India
DSO
Days Sales Outstanding
DTSA
Defend Trade Secrets Act
EPS
Earnings Per Share
ENS
The National Security Scheme
European Union
EU AI Act
European Union Artificial Intelligence Act
EVP
Executive Vice President
Exchange Act
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended
FCPA
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Financial Services
GAAP
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America
GCCs
Global Capability Centers
GenAI
Generative Artificial Intelligence
High Court
Madras, India High Court
Human Resources
Health Sciences
India Defined Contribution Obligation
Certain statutory defined contribution obligations of employees and employers in India
Intellectual property
IoT
Internet of Things
IRS
Internal Revenue Service
ISO
An international standard for information security management
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December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
Defined Term
Definition
Information Technology
ITAT
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in India
ITD
Indian Income Tax Department
Labor Code
Labor law reforms implemented by the Government of India effective November 21, 2025, including the Code on Social Security, 2020.
North America
Nasscom
National Association of Software and Services Companies
NextGen program
Our 2023-2024 program to simplify our operating model, optimize corporate functions and consolidate and realign office space
Ninth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
NIST
National Institute of Standards and Technology
OBBBA
One Big Beautiful Bill Act
PSU
Performance Stock Units
Purchase Plan
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation 2004 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, as amended
Products and Resources
Research and experimental
Recently completed acquisitions
Acquisitions that were completed in the 12 months preceding the beginning of the reporting period (in order to identify the impact of such acquisitions for the first twelve months of ownership)
ROU
Right of Use
RoW
Rest of World
RSU
Restricted Stock Units
SCI
Supreme Court of India
SEC
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Selling, general and administrative
SVP
Senior Vice President
Syntel
Syntel Sterling Best Shores Mauritius Ltd.
Tax Reform Act
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Term Loan
Unsecured term loan under the Credit Agreement
Third Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
Title VII
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C § 2000e et seq.
TriZetto
The TriZetto Group, Inc., now known as Cognizant Technology Software Group, Inc.
United Kingdom
USDC-CDCA
United States District Court for the Central District of California
USDC-NJ
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
USDC-SDNY
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Voluntary Attrition - Tech Services
Attrition metric that includes all voluntary separations with the exception of employees in our Intuitive Operations and Automation practice
Vice President
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December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
Forward Looking Statements
The statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 21E of the Exchange Act) that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by, among other things, the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “could,” “would,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “should” or “anticipate” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy that involve risks and uncertainties. From time to time, we or our representatives have made or may make forward-looking statements, orally or in writing.
Such forward-looking statements may be included in various filings made by us with the SEC, in press releases or in oral statements made by or with the approval of one of our authorized executive officers. These forwar d-looking statements, such as statements regarding our anticipated future revenues, operating margin, earnings, capital expenditures, impacts to our business, financial results and financial condition as a result of the competitive marketplace for talent and future attrition trends, anticipated effective income tax rate and income tax expense, liquidity, financing strategy, access to capital, capital return strategy, investment strategies, cost management, plans and objectives, investment in our business, potential acquisitions, industry trends, client behaviors and trends, the outcome of and costs associated with regulatory and litigation matters, the appropriateness of the accrual related to the India Defined Contribution Obligation and other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts, are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections, management’s beliefs and certain assumptions made by management, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and beyond our control. Actual results, performance, achievements and outcomes could differ materially from the results expressed in, or anticipated or implied by, these forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including:
• macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions globally, in particular in the markets in which our clients and operations are concentrated;
• intense and evolving competition and significant technological advances that our service offerings must keep pace with in the rapidly changing markets we compete in;
• our ability to successfully use AI-based technologies in our client offerings and our own internal operations and the impact AI-based technologies may have on the demand for our services or our ability to obtain favorable pricing or other terms for our services;
• our ability to attract, train and retain skilled employees, including highly skilled technical personnel and personnel with experience in key AI and digital areas and senior management to lead our business globally, at an acceptable cost;
• unexpected terminations of client contracts on short notice or reduced spending by clients;
• our ability to meet specified service levels or milestones required by certain of our contracts;
• our ability to achieve our profitability goals and maintain our capital return strategy;
• challenges related to growing our business organically as well as inorganically through acquisitions, and our ability to achieve our targeted growth rates and successfully integrate acquired businesses;
• legal, reputation and financial risks if we fail to protect client and/or our data from security breaches and/or cyber attacks;
• fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, or the failure of our hedging strategies to mitigate such fluctuations;
• the impact of future pandemics, epidemics or other outbreaks of disease, on our business, results of operations, liquidity and financial condition;
• the impact of extreme weather on our business;
• our ability to meet sustainability and societal related expectations and ambitions;
• the effectiveness of our risk management, business resilience and disaster recovery plans and the potential that our global delivery capabilities could be impacted;
• restrictions on visas, in particular in the United States, UK and EU, or immigration more generally or increased costs of such visas or the wages we are required to pay employees on visas, which may affect our ability to compete for and provide services to our clients;
• risks related to anti-outsourcing legislation, if adopted, and negative perceptions associated with offshore outsourcing, both of which could impair our ability to serve our clients;
• risks and costs related to complying with numerous and evolving legal and regulatory requirements and client expectations in the many jurisdictions in which we operate;
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December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
• actual and potential changes in tax laws, or in their interpretation or enforcement, failure by us to adapt our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements, or adverse outcomes of tax audits, investigations or proceedings;
• actual and potential exposure to litigation and legal claims in the conduct of our business;
• risks related to infringement upon the IP rights of others or having our IP rights infringed upon; and
• the factors set forth in " Part 1, Item 1A. Risk Factors ” in this report.
You are advised to consult any further disclosures we make on related subjects in the reports we file with the SEC, including this report in the sections titled “ Part I, Item 1. Business ,” “ Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors ” and “ Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations .” We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
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December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
Table of Contents
PART I
Item 1. Business
Overview
Cognizant is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, engineering modern businesses and delivering strategic outcomes for our clients. We help clients modernize technology, reimagine processes and transform experiences so they can stay ahead in today's fast-changing world, where AI is reshaping organizations in every field. As an AI builder, we provide deep expertise at the intersection of industry and technology, combining our perspective with extensive knowledge of our clients' organizations to build industry-specific platforms and incorporate context into systems, AI models and custom solutions. We tailor our services and solutions to specific industries with an integrated global delivery model that employs client service and delivery teams based at client locations and dedicated global and regional delivery centers. Our services include consulting, application development, systems integration, quality engineering and assurance, engineering research and development, application maintenance, infrastructure and security as well as business process services and automation.
Our purpose, vision and values are central to Cognizant's strategic approach. Our values support our vision and enhance our ability to innovate and co-create with our clients.
In order to achieve this vision and support our clients, we are focusing on accelerating growth, becoming an employer of choice and simplifying our operations through modernization and an AI-enabled IT roadmap. In executing our strategy, we seek to drive organic growth through investments in our digital and AI capabilities across industries and geographies, including the extensive training and reskilling of our technical teams and the expansion of our local workforces in the United States and other markets around the world. Additionally, we pursue select strategic acquisitions to expand our talent, experience and capabilities in key technologies or in particular geographies or industries. See Note 3 and Note 18 to our consolidated financial statements for additional information.
We are focused on expanding our partner ecosystem across a broad range of technology companies, including hyperscalers, cloud providers, enterprise software companies, best-in-class digital software enterprises and emerging start-ups. We believe this partner ecosystem will enable us to enhance our innovative, integrated offerings by combining third-party products with our service solutions to deliver enterprise-wide digital transformation.
Reportable Business Segments
In 2025, we went to market across four industry-based operating segments, which are our four reportable business segments: (i) Health Sciences (HS) (ii) Financial Services (FS) (iii) Products and Resources (P&R) and (iv) Communications, Media and Technology (CMT).
Our clients seek to partner with service providers that have a deep understanding of their businesses, industry initiatives, customers, markets and cultures and the ability to create solutions tailored to meet their individual business needs. Across industries, our clients are confronted with the risk of being disrupted by nimble, AI-native competitors. Our clients increasingly feel the need to transform and are therefore redirecting their focus and investment to new operating models and embracing AI,
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cloud-native architectures and modern development practices that enable quick adjustments to shifts in their markets. We believe that our deep knowledge of our clients’ businesses and the industries we serve has been central to our growth and high client satisfaction, and we continue to develop and deploy our client-centric culture, innovating together to produce transformative outcomes.
Our HS segment consists of healthcare providers and payers, and life sciences companies, including pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies. Demand in this segment is driven by emerging industry trends, including the shift towards consumerism, outcome-based care, digital health and delivering seamless, patient-centered experiences. These trends result in increased demand for services that drive operational improvements in areas such as clinical development, pharmacovigilance and manufacturing, as well as claims processing, enrollment, membership and revenue cycle management. Demand is also created by the adoption and integration of digital technologies such as AI and predictive data analytics to improve clinical trial designs, data security, patient engagement and care outcomes.
Our FS segment includes banking, capital markets, payments and insurance companies. Demand in this segment is driven by our clients’ need to modernize legacy technology environments, strengthen operational resilience and adopt cloud, data and AI capabilities to meet evolving customer expectations and regulatory requirements. Our clients are expanding enterprise AI adoption to enhance customer experience, improve risk and fraud management, accelerate underwriting and lending and modernize payments. These initiatives require core platform modernization, greater use of advanced analytics and responsible AI frameworks to ensure transparency, security and compliance.
Our P&R segment includes manufacturers, automakers, retailers, consumer goods companies, aerospace and defense companies, and travel and hospitality companies, as well as businesses providing logistics, energy and utility services. Demand in this segment is driven by our clients’ focus on improving the efficiency and sustainability of their operations; the enablement and integration of business platforms to support sales and customer experience enhancement initiatives; the generational shift from mechanical to software-defined, experience-driven customer interactions; grid modernization to support a consumer-driven energy landscape that enables cleaner, more efficient energy use; and their adoption and integration of AI and other technologies, such as intelligent systems to manage supply chains and enhance overall customer experiences, and IoT to generate data and insights for factories, fleets, products and real estate companies.
Our CMT segment includes global communications, media and entertainment, education, publishing, information and professional services and technology companies. Demand in this segment is driven by our clients’ need for services related to AI adoption, modernization of business and technology operations, development of agentic ecosystems for the generation of new revenue streams, enhancing user experiences and driving operational efficiency. In response to this demand, our focus areas include AI and analytics, data modernization, customer experience design, supporting clients as they launch new products and services, transforming client interactions with customers, telecom network monetization, media supply chain transformation and applications, as well as infrastructure modernization.
For the year ended December 31, 2025, revenues across our four reportable business segments were as follows:
The services we provide are distributed among a number of clients in each of our reportable business segments. The volume of work performed for specific clients may vary significantly from year to year. A loss of a significant client or a few significant clients in a particular segment could materially reduce revenues for that segment. The services we provide to our larger clients are often critical to their operations and termination of our services would typically require an extended transition period with gradually declining revenues.
See Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements for additional information related to disaggregation of revenues by client location, service line and contract-type for each of our reportable business segments.
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Services and Solutions
Our services include AI and other technology services and solutions, consulting, application development, systems integration, quality engineering and assurance, application maintenance, infrastructure and security as well as business process services and automation. Additionally, we develop, license, implement and support proprietary and third-party software products and platforms. Central to our strategy to align with our clients’ need for continuous transformation is our sustained investment in new technologies, including GenAI and agentic systems, cloud, data modernization, automation, digital engineering and IoT. These capabilities help clients enable AI-led productivity and efficiency, industrialize AI and agentify the enterprise to improve the experiences they offer to their customers, tap into new revenue streams and defend against digital- and AI-native competitors.
In most cases, our clients operate in hybrid technology environments, running critical new digital initiatives alongside essential legacy systems. In the AI era, our clients have an accelerated need to modernize their technology estates, reimagine operations and shift to an AI-driven operating model. This has intensified demand for next-gen capabilities in AI, automation, digital commerce, secure distributed work and the design and integration of full-stack AI solutions tailored to each enterprise's specific needs. We believe our deep understanding of our clients' established systems and their ambitions provides us with a unique advantage as we work with them to architect solutions that are both transformative and practical.
Our services and solutions are organized into seven integrated practices, which help us deliver these capabilities in ways that align with each client’s specific transformation journey. These practices are Core Technologies and Insights, Enterprise Platform Services, Industry Solutions, Intuitive Operations and Automation, Software and Platform Engineering, Cognizant Moment and our newest practice, Security. Our consulting professionals have deep industry-specific expertise and work closely across our practices to design and deliver integrated AI and digital solutions tailored to specific client requirements. Leveraging a wide range of technologies across our clients’ enterprises, together with our proprietary platforms and accelerators and those of our ecosystem partners, we help clients implement and operate AI solutions with integration, governance, security and monitoring controls. These offerings, many including unique IP developed in our AI Lab, improve efficiency, enable new customer experiences, and support business outcomes that align to our clients' industries. Our GCC offerings also help clients establish, scale and optimize GCCs to build resilient, cost-effective and innovation-focused operating models. These offerings combine domain expertise, digital engineering capabilities, and global delivery to help clients improve productivity, enhance governance and accelerate modernization at scale.
Core Technologies and Insights
Our Core Technologies and Insights practice helps clients build agile and relevant organizations that apply the power of AI, cloud, data and IoT to help them perform better and innovate faster. Our clients can harness data securely in cloud-first architectures, enabling them to become highly resilient enterprises that are capable of quickly adapting to market dynamics. Areas of focus within this practice are:
• AI and analytics, which helps clients identify and adopt the best AI use cases for their enterprise and formulate actionable insights from unstructured data to drive a greater understanding of their customers and operations;
• Cloud and infrastructure, which helps simplify and modernize IT environments, creating a solid foundation for AI innovation; and
• IoT, which enables the convergence of the physical and the digital in smart products.
Enterprise Platform Services
Our Enterprise Platform Services practice helps our clients transform multiple front- and back-office business processes, implementing enterprise-wide platforms that enable customer experience, customer relationship management, human capital management, supply chain management, enterprise resource planning and financial processes. Our services decrease time to market, drive efficiencies and deliver impactful experiences. Our clients can better share information, simplify IT processes, automate workflows and improve flexibility. This practice focuses on application services, which help enterprises engage their partner ecosystems more productively, and run their operations and financial organizations more efficiently while enabling improved employee and customer experiences. We work closely with partners including Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Pegasystems, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, Workday and many others.
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Industry Solutions
Our Industry Solutions practice was established as part of Cognizant’s strategy to build differentiation at the industry level. The practice integrates industry technologists and thought leaders specialized in vertical micro-segments. These teams work with specialized partners to develop industry-specific products and services that enable clients to improve productivity, increase operational excellence and accelerate innovation.
Intuitive Operations and Automation
Our Intuitive Operations and Automation practice helps clients build and run modern operations through two main vehicles: AI-led automation, which includes advisory and process and IT automation solutions designed to simplify and accelerate automation adoption, and business process outsourcing services, which help deliver business outcomes including revenue growth, increased customer and employee satisfaction and cost savings. Our automation advisory, implementation and managed services experts partner with clients to transform end-to-end processes, design and manage the next-generation human and digital workforce, enable seamless experiences and achieve multi-fold productivity increases. Our technology-driven business process outsourcing services incorporate key AI use cases to help clients transform and run functions and industry-specific processes such as finance and accounting, omni-channel customer care, loan origination, annotation services, location-based services and medical data management.
Software and Platform Engineering
Our Software and Platform Engineering practice helps clients develop modern enterprises through digital software engineering products, services and solutions that support optimization and modernization of their IT estates and deliver new value for their customers. This practice manages service-delivery platforms that enable enterprise transformation at scale and accelerate the wide use of GenAI in the enterprise. Our clients can leverage data, technologies and our digital engineering, design and product development capabilities to build world-class experiences, and a responsive, agile and intuitive framework for continuous innovation. Areas of focus are:
• Digital engineering, which delivers modern business software;
• Application development and management, which improves or reimagines applications; and
• Quality engineering and assurance, which helps clients build and run the highest quality software.
Digital Experience Services (Cognizant Moment)
Cognizant Moment is our digital experience practice, designed to help clients leverage the power of AI to reimagine customer experiences and engineer innovative strategies aimed at driving growth. Cognizant Moment delivers intelligent ecosystem orchestration, connecting experiences as well as their underlying data, technology and operations across the entire enterprise. This approach enables clients to leverage GenAI's content generation capabilities alongside human ingenuity to innovate and differentiate by informing and automating processes, and creating dynamic, hyper-personalized experiences for their customers.
Security
Established in 2026, our Security practice helps clients protect their digital environments and maintain regulatory compliance through comprehensive cybersecurity solutions. We provide governance, risk and compliance services to manage cyber risks and ensure adherence to regulatory standards, threat and vulnerability management to enable proactive detection and mitigation of sophisticated threats, data protection and privacy services including classification, encryption and leakage prevention, identity and access management solutions delivering identity-centric, zero-trust security and cloud and infrastructure security services protecting network, workload and cloud environments.
Global Delivery Model
We operate in an integrated global delivery model, with delivery centers worldwide to provide our full range of services to our clients. Our model leverages methodologies, tools, AI and other enablers to optimize delivery by enhancing people's capabilities through technology. We continue to modernize our delivery operations through lean processes, increased automation and integrated, AI-infused systems. Our employees are deployed at client sites, local or in-country delivery centers, regional delivery centers and offshore delivery centers, as required to best serve our clients. Our extensive facilities, technology and communications infrastructure are designed to enable the effective collaboration of our global workforce across locations and geographies.
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Competition
The markets for our services are highly competitive, characterized by a large number of participants and subject to rapid change. Competitors may include systems integration firms, contract programming companies, application software companies, cloud computing service providers, traditional consulting firms, professional services groups of computer equipment companies, infrastructure management companies, outsourcing companies, boutique digital companies and clients' in-house technology resources, such as GCCs. Our direct competitors include, among others, Accenture, Atos, Capgemini, CGI, Deloitte Digital, DXC Technology, EPAM Systems, Genpact, HCL Technologies, IBM Consulting, Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro. In addition, we compete with numerous smaller local companies in the various geographic markets in which we operate. For additional information, see Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors .
The principal competitive factors affecting the markets for our services include the provider’s reputation and experience, strategic advisory capabilities, digital and AI capabilities, performance and reliability, responsiveness to customer needs, financial stability, corporate governance and competitive pricing of services. Accordingly, we rely on the following to compete effectively:
• investments to scale our AI capabilities;
• our recruiting, training and retention model;
• an entrepreneurial culture and approach to our work;
• a broad client referral base;
• investment in process improvement and knowledge capture;
• our global delivery model;
• financial stability and good corporate governance;
• our partnerships;
• continued focus on responsiveness to client needs, quality of services and competitive prices; and
• project management capabilities and technical expertise.
Intellectual Property, Certain Trademarks, Trade Names and Service Marks
We provide value to our clients based, in part, on our proprietary innovations, methodologies, software, reusable knowledge capital and other IP assets. We recognize the importance of IP and its ability to differentiate us from our competitors. Accordingly, we have made investments in protecting our IP, including areas directed at AI-related technologies. We seek IP protection for many of our innovations and rely on a combination of patent, copyright and trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our IP. We have registered, and applied for the registration of, U.S. and international trademarks, service marks, and domain names to protect our brands, including our Cognizant brand, which is one of our most valuable assets. We own or are licensed under a number of patents, trademarks and copyrights of varying duration, relating to our products and services. We also have policies requiring our employees to respect the IP rights of others. While our proprietary IP rights are important to our success, we believe our business as a whole is not materially dependent on any particular IP right or any particular group of patents, trademarks, copyrights or licenses, other than our Cognizant brand.
Cognizant® and other trademarks appearing in this report are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cognizant and its affiliates in the United States and other countries. This Annual Report on Form 10-K also contains trademarks, trade names and service marks of other companies, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, trademarks, trade names and service marks referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K may appear without the ®, ™ or SM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights to these trademarks, trade names and service marks. We do not intend our use or display of other parties’ trademarks, trade names or service marks to imply, and such use or display should not be construed to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other parties.
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Our People and Culture
Cognizant's success is powered by our talented global workforce and distinct culture. As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 351,600 employees, with 256,900 in India, 41,600 in North America, 14,600 in Continental Europe, 7,800 in the United Kingdom and 30,700 in various other locations throughout the rest of the world. As of December 31, 2025, our workforce is comprised of approximately 39% women and 61% men.
• Culture and engagement: Guided by our core values - Work as One, Raise the Bar, Dare to Innovate, Do the Right Thing, and Own It - we strive to foster a culture that is highly innovative, collaborative, inclusive and ethical.
– Employees are encouraged to embrace a strong spirit of empowerment and entrepreneurship: our grassroots Bluebolt program enables any employee to submit ideas for implementation with clients or internally.
– In 2025, Cognizant achieved a GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ for the largest online GenAI hackathon by hosting a global Vibe Coding Week. Associates were given access to leading vibe coding tools to sharpen their AI skills, producing more than 30,000 prototypes.
– Leader training on anti-discrimination, a strong ethics & compliance ecosystem and global affinity employee groups help support our efforts to provide equal opportunity for all.
– Our people are passionate about volunteerism, with over 240,000 hours volunteered for causes such as community skilling and education.
– Our annual engagement survey scores are above industry benchmarks, and we strive to continuously address feedback at the enterprise and people manager levels.
– We’re recognized as a top employer by leading organizations based on the experiences and real feedback of our people. In 2025, this included: Forbes World's Best Employers, Time’s World’s Best Companies, Newsweek’s America's Greatest Workplaces, Fortune’s America’s Most Innovative Companies and Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Companies, among others.
• Skill relevance and growth : Amidst the rapidly changing AI-driven landscape, Cognizant aims to fuel strong performance and future readiness at all levels through our award-winning learning engine.
– Our proprietary talent intelligence model is designed to identify skills needed and ready our workforce ahead of technology transformation.
– AI skill building is a core focus – from July 2023 to end of 2025, we have upskilled more than 330,000 associates on GenAI via more than 1,000 learning programs.
– In addition to our deep institutional learning expertise, we provide cutting edge training through alliances and partnerships with leading organizations, such as Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and NVIDIA.
– We encourage learning through experimentation by providing access to leading AI tools, including Microsoft Copilot, GitHub CoPilot, Google Gemini Code Assist and Windsurf.
– We evolve roles and career pathways for the future. We are redesigning career paths to transition roles highly impacted by AI to higher value roles by building adjacent skills.
– We build future workforce capability both internally and in our communities. In 2025, we doubled our Synapse program commitment having achieved our original goal early, and are now targeting upskilling 2 million future workers by 2030.
• Career and talent development : We believe broad, interdisciplinary experience strengthens talent in an AI-driven world. We empower our people to build unique and varied careers across the Cognizant ecosystem.
– We enable regular role movement and career growth and progression through an internal job move program and talent marketplace.
– We regularly promote talent across the business, including both role-based and performance-based promotions, promoting approximately 110,000 employees since 2023.
– We have structured talent review and performance processes to support career growth and development.
– We build our leadership pipeline and capability across levels through leadership development initiatives, assessments based on our leadership competencies, multi-stakeholder feedback, coaching, accelerated programs, partnerships with leading universities and more.
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• Total rewards: We reward employees through compensation, benefits, and recognition programs to help support their physical, mental and financial wellbeing.
– Our comprehensive portfolio includes compensation programs, healthcare benefits, risk protection coverage, overall wellbeing and family care, tax savings programs, income protection, retirement and financial planning resources, time off programs, recognition and more.
– We promote awareness and provide access to mental health support through mental health training for all employees, wellbeing events, and free counseling sessions via our Employee Assistance Program, among other initiatives. Additionally, Cognizant’s mental health ally network has hundreds of trained and certified employees who provide peer-to-peer support.
– Cognizant’s recognition platform celebrates service milestones and enables leader-initiated and peer-to-peer awards for both non-monetary and monetary appreciation. Recognition is also enabled through manager toolkits, funds for team celebrations, a global annual awards event and more.
• Talent sourcing: We avail ourselves of broad talent pools to identify the best talent to shape the future.
– Cognizant believes early-in-career talent have a competitive edge in this dynamic moment as AI natives and lifelong learners. Our talent programs across regions focus on robust upskilling, AI exposure and real-world experience.
– We have strengthened our North America talent strategy with expanded recruiting, training, a revitalized internship program, and increased office presence across multiple locations, while in India we are scaling operations into tier two cities to access emerging talent pools.
– To meet dynamic client demand, we utilize subcontractors for additional capacity and agility. Historically, subcontractor usage has been immaterial relative to our overall headcount.
– We are not party to any significant collective bargaining agreements.
– Globally, we manage visa-dependent roles with careful consideration of business needs and associated risks. For additional information, see Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors .
– For the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, our Voluntary Attrition - Tech Services was 13.9% and 15.9%, respectively.
Governmental Regulation
As a result of the size, breadth and geographic diversity of our business, our operations are subject to a variety of laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate, including with respect to import and export controls, temporary work authorizations or work permits and other immigration laws, content requirements, trade restrictions, tariffs, taxation, anti-corruption, the environment, government affairs, internal and disclosure control obligations, data privacy, intellectual property, employee and labor relations, and compliance with these laws may impact our capital expenditures, earnings and competitive position. For additional information, see Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors as well as the "Business Outlook" section within Part I. Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations. Executive Summary .
Information About Our Executive Officers
The following table identifies our current executive officers:
Name
Age
Capacities in Which Served
Ravi Kumar S
Chief Executive Officer
Jatin Dalal
Chief Financial Officer
Balu Ganesh Ayyar
President - Intuitive Operations and Automation and Industry Solutions
Kathryn Diaz
Chief People Officer
Surya Gummadi
President - Americas
Alina Kerdman
SVP, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer
John Kim
Chief Legal Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary
Rajesh Varrier
President - Operations and Managing Director, Cognizant India
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Ravi Kumar Singisetti (also referred to as Ravi Kumar S or Ravi Kumar) has been our Chief Executive Officer since January 2023. Prior to joining Cognizant, Mr. Kumar was the President of Infosys, an Indian multinational technology company, where he led the Infosys Global Services Organization across all global industry segments from January 2016 to October 2022. While serving as President of Infosys, he also served as Chairman of the Board of various Infosys subsidiaries. Prior to such role, Mr. Kumar served in positions of increasing authority at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cambridge Technology Partners, Oracle Corporation, Sapient and Infosys. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Transunion, where he is a member of the Compensation Committee and the Technology Committee. He is also on the Board of Directors for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Kumar has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Shivaji University and an MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, India.
Jatin Dalal has been our Chief Financial Officer since December 2023. Prior to joining Cognizant, Mr. Dalal served as Chief Financial Officer of Wipro Limited, a publicly traded multinational technology and services consulting company, from April 2015 to November 2023 and assumed additional responsibilities as President from December 2019 to November 2023 . Previously, he held various leadership positions at Wipro, including CFO, IT Business from 2011 to 2015. He joined Wipro in 2002 from the General Electric Company, where he began his career in 1999. Mr. Dalal holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the National Institute of Technology in Surat, India. He also has a postgraduate diploma in business administration with a specialization in finance and international business from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai, India. In addition, Mr. Dalal is a Chartered Accountant (India), a Chartered Management Accountant (UK) and a Chartered Financial Analyst (USA). Mr. Dalal has earned an Advanced Computer Security Certificate from Stanford University. Mr. Dalal is also an alumnus of the Advanced Management Program of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Balu Ganesh Ayyar has held the title of President - Intuitive Operations, and Automation and Industry Solutions since March 2025. His previous title was EVP and President, Intuitive Operations and Automation and Industry Solutions, which he had from April 2023 to March 2025. From July 2022 to April 2023, he served as EVP and President, Intuitive Operations and Automation. Previously, he was EVP and President, Digital Operations from August 2019 to June 2022. Prior to joining Cognizant, Mr. Ayyar was the CEO of Mphasis, a global IT services company listed in India, from 2009 to 2017. Prior to Mphasis, Mr. Ayyar spent nearly two decades with Hewlett-Packard, holding a variety of leadership roles across multiple geographies.
Kathryn (Kathy) Diaz has held the title of Chief People Officer since March 2025. From September 2023 to March 2025, her title was EVP, Chief People Officer. She held the Chief People Officer role on an interim basis from May 2023 to September 2023. Prior to being appointed Chief People Officer, Ms. Diaz served as SVP, Head of Global Total Rewards at Cognizant from July 2020 until September 2023. Prior to joining Cognizant in 2020, Ms. Diaz was VP, Total Rewards at Pearson, a multinational publishing and education company. She was the VP of Global Compensation, Global Mobility and HR Systems at PVH (the parent company of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger). Previously, Ms. Diaz spent over 20 years in a series of HR leadership positions at Merck & Co, Inc. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Rider University and an MBA from Lehigh University.
Surya Gummadi has held the title of President - Americas since March 2025. Previously, his title was EVP and President, Americas from January 2023 to March 2025. He held the President of the Americas role on an interim basis from late June 2022 to January 2023. Prior to being appointed President of the Americas, Mr. Gummadi served as Senior Vice President of our Health Sciences business segment from April 2022 to January 2023, Senior Vice President and head of our Healthcare business from July 2020 to April 2022, Vice President and market leader of our Healthcare business from February 2020 to July 2020 and Vice President and market head for our Health Plans business from October 2017 to February 2020. Prior to that, he served in a variety of roles during his more than 20-year tenure with Cognizant. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
Alina Kerdman has been our Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer since July 2025. She previously served as SVP, Assistant Global Controller, from December 2023 to June 2025. From June 2019 to December 2023, she served as VP, Global Revenue Controller and Head of External Reporting. Prior to that she held several finance roles of increasing responsibility at the Company. She joined the Company in 2010 from Ernst & Young LLP, where she began her career in 2001. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from the New York University Stern School of Business. She is also an alumna of the Advanced Management Program of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
John Kim has held the title of Chief Legal Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary since March 2025. From February 2024 to March 2025 his title was EVP, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary. Previously, he was EVP, General Counsel, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer and Secretary, holding this position from
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March 2021 to February 2024. Before March 2021, he served as Senior Vice President, Interim General Counsel from January 2021 to March 2021, after joining Cognizant in November 2019 as our Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Global Commercial Contracts. Prior to joining Cognizant in 2019, Mr. Kim held a variety of senior leadership roles at Capgemini from January 2012 to November 2019, including Global Head of Big Deals. Prior to Capgemini, Mr. Kim served as U.S. Counsel for WNS Global Services from July 2009 to June 2011 and held a variety of leadership roles at Cendant Travel Distribution Services (now known as Travelport) from January 2001 to June 2006, including General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Columbia University and obtained his law degree from Cornell Law School.
Rajesh Varrier has held the title of President – Operations and Managing Director, Cognizant India since March 2025. From October 2024 to March 2025, he held the title of EVP, Global Head of Operations, and Chairman and Managing Director, Cognizant India. Upon joining the Company in September 2024 until October 2024, he served as EVP, Global Head of Operations. Prior to joining Cognizant, Mr. Varrier held a number of positions at Infosys, an Indian multinational technology company, including serving as EVP, Global Head of Services from November 2023 to April 2024, EVP, Head of Operations Infosys Americas and Global Head of Digital Experience and Microsoft Practice from June 2023 to October 2023 and SVP, Global Head of Digital Experience and Microsoft Practice from April 2018 to June 2023. Prior to that, Mr. Varrier was CIO and Digital Officer for Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance. Mr. Varrier is a member of the Nasscom Executive Council and a member of the Board of Directors of Cognizant Foundation India. Mr. Varrier holds a bachelor’s degree in physics, and a postgraduate degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Mumbai.
None of our executive officers are related to any other executive officer or to any of our Directors. Our executive officers are appointed annually by the Board of Directors and generally serve until their successors are duly appointed and qualified.
Available Information
We make our SEC filings available free of charge through our website at www.cognizant.com as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish such material to, the SEC. No information on our website is incorporated by reference into this Form 10-K or any other public filing made by us with the SEC.
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Item 1A. Risk Factors
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risks described below in addition to the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including “ Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes, and the other documents and materials we file with the SEC, as well as news releases and other information we publicly disseminate from time to time. The disclosure below reflects our beliefs and opinions as to the factors, events, or contingencies that could materially and adversely affect us in the future. References to past events are provided as examples only and are not intended to be a complete list or representation as to whether or not the other risks described below have occurred in the past. The risks described below are not the only risks or uncertainties we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not previously known to us, or that we currently see as immaterial, may also adversely affect us. The occurrence of any of the following risks or additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or that we currently believe to be immaterial, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, prospects, or results of operations. In such case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your original investment. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements as a result of specific factors, including the risks and uncertainties described below.
Additionally, macroeconomic and geopolitical developments may amplify many of the risks discussed below to which we are subject. The extent of the impact of macroeconomic and geopolitical developments on our financial and operating performance depends significantly on the duration and severity of such macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, the actions taken to contain or mitigate their impact and any changes in client behaviors as a result thereof.
Risks Related to our Business and Operations
Our results of operations could be adversely affected by macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions globally and in particular in the markets in which our clients and operations are concentrated.
Global macroeconomic conditions have a significant effect on our business as well as the businesses of our clients. Volatile, negative or uncertain economic and geopolitical conditions, including as a result of recession or slowing economic growth, inflation, higher interest rates, tightening of credit markets and changes in trade policy (including trade disputes, the threat or imposition of tariffs or other trade restrictions and related retaliatory actions), have in the past and could in the future cause our clients to reduce, postpone or cancel spending on new or existing projects with us, negatively affecting our business and making it more difficult for us to accurately forecast client demand and have available the right resources to profitably address such client demand. For example, in the recent past some of our clients continued to reduce their discretionary spending in response to economic and geopolitical uncertainty, which negatively impacted our revenues. Clients may reduce demand for services quickly and with little warning, which may cause us to incur extra costs where we have employed more personnel than client demand supports. Further, our business depends on our ability to obtain payment from our clients of the amounts they owe us for the work we perform. Macroeconomic or geopolitical conditions, including recessionary or inflationary pressures, trade disputes or other challenges could result in financial difficulties for our clients that have in the past and could in the future cause clients to delay payments to us, request modifications to their payment arrangements or default on their payment obligations to us.
Our business is particularly susceptible to economic and political conditions in the markets where our clients or operations are concentrated. Our revenues are highly dependent on clients located in the United States and Europe, and any adverse economic, geopolitical or legal uncertainties or adverse developments, including due to the uncertainty related to the economic environment and inflation, natural or man-made disasters and extreme weather, geopolitical events and conflicts, labor or trade disputes or similar events, may cause clients in these geographies to reduce their spending and materially adversely impact our business. Many of our clients are in the financial services and healthcare industries, so any decrease in growth or significant consolidation in these industries or regulatory policies that restrict these industries may reduce demand for our services. Economic and political developments in India, where a significant majority of our operations and technical personnel are located, or in other countries where we maintain delivery operations, may also have a significant impact on our business and costs of operations. As a developing country, India has experienced and may continue to experience high inflation and wage growth, fluctuations in gross domestic product growth and volatility in currency exchange rates, any of which could materially adversely affect our cost of operations. Additionally, we benefit from governmental policies in countries that encourage foreign investment and promote the ease of doing business, such as tax incentives, and any change in policy or circumstances that
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results in the elimination of such benefits or degradation of the rule of law, or imposition of new adverse restrictions or costs on our operations could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We face intense and evolving competition and our service offerings must keep pace with significant technological advances in the rapidly changing markets we compete in.
The markets we serve and operate in are highly competitive, subject to rapid change and characterized by a large number of participants, as described in “ Part I, Item 1. Business-Competition .” We compete on the basis of reputation and experience, strategic advisory capabilities, digital and AI capabilities, performance and reliability, responsiveness to customer needs, financial stability, corporate governance and competitive pricing of services. The less we are able to differentiate our services and solutions and/or clearly convey the value of our services and solutions, the more difficulty we have in winning new work in sufficient volumes and at our target pricing and overall economics. In addition to large, global competitors, we face competition in many geographic markets from numerous smaller, local competitors that may have more experience with operations in these markets, have well-established relationships with our desired clients, or be able to provide services and solutions at lower costs or on terms more attractive to clients than we can. Additionally, we face competition from clients' in-house technology resources, such as GCCs, which may provide a lower cost alternative to our services. Consolidation activity may also result in new competitors with greater scale, a broader footprint or vertical integration that makes them more attractive to clients as a single provider of integrated products and services. In addition, concurrent use by many clients of multiple professional service providers means that we are required to be continually competitive on the quality, scope and pricing of our offerings or face a reduction or elimination of our business. Competitors may also be willing, at times, to take on more risk or price contracts lower than us in an effort to enter the market or increase market share. If we are not able to supply clients with services that they deem superior and successfully apply current business models with market level pricing while managing discounts, we may lose business to competitors and face downward pressure on gross margins and profitability. Any inability to compete effectively would materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Our relationships with our third-party alliance partners, who supply us with technology, including platforms and software, are also critical to our ability to provide many of our services and solutions that address client demands or requirements. There can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain such relationships or that such technology will be available on the expected timelines or for the anticipated prices. Among other things, such alliance partners may in the future decide to compete with us, form exclusive or more favorable arrangements with our competitors or otherwise reduce our access to their technology, thereby impairing our ability to provide the services and solutions dependent on such technology demanded or required by clients. In addition, some of our third-party alliance partners are also our clients or suppliers of technology for our internal operations. Any performance failure on the part of our alliance partners, or the discontinuance by such alliance partners of technology that we have relied on them to provide for our clients or ourselves, could delay or prevent our performance unless we engage alternative third parties to provide the equivalent technology at our cost or provide the equivalent technology ourselves, any of which could deprive us of potential revenue or adversely impact our profitability. In addition, our third-party alliance partners may also experience reduced demand for their technology, including as a result of changes in technology, which could reduce demand for our services and solutions.
Our competitiveness also depends on our ability to continue to develop and implement services and solutions that anticipate and respond to rapid and continuing changes in technology to serve the evolving needs of our clients. Examples include digital-, cloud- and security-related offerings, AI, augmented reality, automation, blockchain, IoT, quantum and edge computing, digital engineering and manufacturing and as-a-service solutions, among others, which are continually evolving. If we do not sufficiently invest in new technologies, successfully adapt to industry developments and changing demand, develop new tools and platforms that meet our clients' productivity expectations and evolve and expand our business at sufficient speed and scale to keep pace with the demands of the markets we serve, we may be unable to develop and maintain a competitive advantage and execute on our growth strategy, which would materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Some of these technological changes have reduced or replaced the demand for some of our historical services and solutions and will continue to do so in the future. In addition, our clients may delay spending under existing contracts and engagements or delay entering into new contracts while evaluating new technologies. Such reductions, replacements and delays can negatively impact our results of operations if we are unable to adapt our pricing or the pace and level of spending on new technologies is not sufficient to make up any shortfall. Further, as we expand into these areas, we may be exposed to operational, legal, regulatory, ethical, technological and other risks specific to such new areas, which may negatively affect our reputation and demand for our services and solutions.
Our use of AI technologies may not be successful and may present business, financial, legal and reputational risks.
We expect the proliferation of AI will have a significant impact on our industry, and we believe our ability to compete in this space will be critical to our financial performance. We increasingly use AI-based technologies, including GenAI, in our client offerings and our own internal operations. We have incurred and plan to continue to incur significant development and
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operational costs to build and support our AI capabilities, including costs to ensure ongoing compliance with the complex and rapidly evolving legal landscape around AI and automation. If we fail to develop and implement AI solutions that meet our internal and client needs, if we are unable to offer or bring AI-enabled solutions to market as effectively or with the same speed as our competitors, or if our clients do not accept new pricing models that reflect the value of our AI-enabled solutions, we may fail to recoup our investments in AI and our financial performance, competitive position, business and reputation may be adversely impacted.
AI technology and services are part of a highly competitive and rapidly evolving market. We face significant competition from our traditional competitors as well as other third parties, including those that are new to the market, and our clients may develop their own AI-related capabilities. Some services that we historically performed for our clients have been and will continue to be replaced by AI or other forms of automation, including our own AI-enabled client offerings. Each of the foregoing may lead to reduced demand for our services or harm our ability to obtain favorable pricing or other terms for our services, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
AI technology and services require access to high-quality datasets, models (including foundation models), and other AI system components. We currently rely, in part, on third parties to provide these components. In the future, we may face difficulties acquiring the necessary rights from third parties due to market competition, pricing changes, licensing restrictions and other factors. This challenge could hinder our ability to develop, implement or maintain AI technologies. To overcome this, we may need to invest in alternative strategies, such as forming partnerships or developing our own resources.
In addition, the development, adoption and use of AI technologies continue to evolve rapidly and ineffective or inadequate AI development or deployment practices by us, our clients or other third parties may not deliver anticipated efficiencies and could result in unintended consequences. Such consequences may include, for example, operational or compliance risks; reliance on outputs that reflect biased, incomplete or inaccurate information; unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information; operational inefficiencies leading to decreased productivity; deliberate misuse; or infringement of third-party IP rights. Additionally, the use of AI by us or our business partners may create new or exacerbate existing cybersecurity vulnerabilities, including novel risk vectors that may not be immediately identifiable. Ongoing uncertainty around the performance, safety and security of new and emerging AI applications requires continued significant investment in monitoring, validation and implementation of governance processes and controls across the AI lifecycle relating to security, accuracy, bias and other variables to ensure alignment with industry standards and meet customer expectations. These efforts can be complex and resource intensive, could potentially impact our profit margins, may not sufficiently address risks and may cause decreased demand for our services or harm to our business, results of operations, financial condition or reputation.
Furthermore, the legal and regulatory landscape surrounding AI technologies is rapidly evolving, uncertain and varies significantly by jurisdiction. Authorities around the world are applying, or considering applying, laws and regulations related to IP, cybersecurity, export controls, privacy, data security and data protection to AI and automated decision-making technologies, as well as adopting AI-specific regulatory frameworks, such as emerging U.S. state AI laws and the EU AI Act which entered into force in 2024 and parts of which began applying in 2025. These laws are subject to ongoing interpretation and implementation and may impose obligations on companies developing and using AI or automated decision-making technologies. Given the pace of regulatory development and the potential for divergent or evolving scope, interpretation and application of these laws and regulations, we may not always be able to anticipate how courts and regulators will apply existing laws to AI or how new AI-specific legal frameworks will be implemented, or otherwise ensure compliance with these frameworks. Regulatory approaches may differ or conflict across jurisdictions, which could require us to expend resources to tailor or limit certain AI-related offerings in specific markets. For example, the EU AI Act may increase costs or impact the operation of our AI services. Compliance with new or changing laws, regulations, industry standards or ethical requirements and expectations relating to AI may impose significant operational costs, require additional investment in governance, documentation and controls, or necessitate changes to our service offerings or business practices, particularly as we expand the use of such technologies. In certain circumstances, these requirements could delay, limit or prevent our ability to develop, deploy or use AI technologies. Failure to effectively navigate and comply with this evolving landscape may result in legal liability, regulatory action, or brand and reputational harm. Although we maintain a responsible AI framework aligned with recognized international standards that includes risk assessment processes, oversight structures and controls across the AI lifecycle, it may not be sufficient to identify, assess, and mitigate all AI-related risks. The effectiveness of our responsible AI framework depends on numerous factors, including the accuracy of risk assessments, the adequacy of implemented controls, and our ability to adapt to rapidly changing AI capabilities and use cases. There can be no assurance that our responsible AI framework will adequately identify, assess and prevent all AI-related risks.
Finally, AI technology is subject to heightened public and media scrutiny, including with respect to workplace impacts, privacy and ethical concerns. Negative public perception could adversely affect customer demand and our investments in AI technology, which could in turn adversely affect our business or reputation.
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If we are unable to attract, train and retain skilled employees to satisfy client demand, including highly skilled technical personnel and personnel with experience in key AI and digital areas, as well as senior management to lead our business globally, our business and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.
Our success is dependent, in large part, on our ability to keep our supply of skilled employees, including project managers, IT engineers and senior technical personnel, in particular those with experience in key AI and digital areas, in balance with client demand and on our ability to attract and retain senior management with the knowledge and skills to lead our business globally. We must hire or upskill, integrate, retain and motivate our large workforce with diverse skills and expertise to serve client demands around the globe, respond quickly to rapid and ongoing technological, industry and macroeconomic developments and grow and manage our business. We also must continue to maintain a senior leadership team that, among other things, is effective in executing on our strategic goals and growing our service capabilities. The loss of senior executives, or the failure to attract, integrate and retain new senior executives as the needs of our business require, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
Competition for skilled labor is intense and, in some jurisdictions in which we operate and in key AI and digital areas, there are more open positions than qualified individuals to fill these positions. We compete for employees not only with other companies in our industry but also with companies in other industries, such as software services, engineering services and financial services companies, as well as our clients' GCCs. In addition, changes in immigration laws or policies, or varying applications of immigration laws and policies, have limited the availability of certain work visas in the U.S., which could exacerbate competition for skilled labor. Our business has experienced in the past and may experience in the future employee attrition at levels which could cause us to incur increased costs to hire new employees with the desired skills. We may not be successful in recovering through price increases or other mechanisms any increases we make to compensation, which could adversely affect our profitability and operating margin. Costs associated with recruiting and training employees are significant. If we are unable to hire, retain or deploy employees with the needed skillsets or if we are unable to adequately equip our employees with the skills needed, this could materially adversely affect our business.
Many of our contracts with clients are short-term, and our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected if our clients terminate their contracts on short notice.
Consistent with industry practice, many of our contracts with clients are short-term or can be terminated by our clients with short notice and without significant early termination cost. Even if not terminated, clients may be able to delay, reduce or eliminate spending on the services and solutions we provide, choose not to retain us for additional stages of a project, try to renegotiate the terms of a contract or cancel or delay additional planned work. Terminations and such other events may result from factors that are beyond our control and unrelated to our work product or the progress of the project, including the business, financial or labor conditions of a client, changes in ownership, management or the strategy of a client or economic or market conditions generally or specific to a client’s industry. When contracts are terminated or spending delayed, we lose the anticipated revenues and might not be able to eliminate our associated costs in a timely manner. In particular, the loss of a significant client or a few significant clients could materially reduce revenues for the Company as a whole or for a particular business segment. In addition, our operating margins in subsequent periods could be lower than expected. If we are unable to replace the lost revenues with other work on terms we find acceptable or effectively eliminate costs, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.
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Our failure to meet specified service levels or milestones required by certain of our client contracts may result in our client contracts being less profitable, potential liability for penalties or damages or reputational harm.
Many of our client contracts include clauses that tie our compensation to the achievement of agreed-upon performance standards, productivity improvements or milestones. Failure to satisfy any such requirements could significantly reduce our fees under the contracts, increase the cost to us of meeting performance standards or milestones, delay expected payments, subject us to potential damage claims under the contract terms or harm our reputation. Further, our work with governmental clients exposes us to additional risks inherent in the government contracting process, including stricter regulatory requirements and heightened reputational and contractual risks. The use of new technologies in our offerings (including GenAI) can expose us to additional risks if those technologies fail to work as predicted, which could lead to cost overruns, project delays, financial penalties, or damage to our reputation. Clients also often have the right to terminate a contract and pursue damages claims for serious or repeated failure to meet these service commitments. Some of our contracts provide that a portion of our compensation depends on performance measures such as cost-savings, revenue enhancement, benefits produced, business goals attained and adherence to schedule. These goals can be complex and may depend on our clients’ actual levels of business activity or may be based on assumptions that are later determined not to be achievable or accurate. As such, these provisions may increase the variability in revenues and margins earned on those contracts and have in the past resulted, and could in the future result, in significant losses on such contracts. Further, if we do not accurately estimate the effort, anticipated productivity improvements, costs or timing for meeting our contractual commitments or completing engagements to a client's satisfaction, our contracts have in the past and could in the future have delivery inefficiencies and be less profitable than expected or unprofitable.
We may not be able to achieve our profitability goals and maintain our capital return strategy.
Our goals for profitability and capital return rely upon a number of assumptions, including our ability to improve the efficiency of our operations and make successful investments to grow and further develop our business. Our profitability is impacted by our ability to accurately estimate, attain, and sustain revenues from client engagements, margins and cash flows over contract periods and general macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions. Our profitability also depends on the efficiency with which we run our operations (including our ability to leverage new technologies such as AI to improve productivity) and the cost of our operations, especially the compensation and benefits costs of our employees. We have incurred, and may continue to incur, substantial costs related to implementing our strategy to optimize such costs, and we may not realize the ultimate cost savings that we expect. We may not be able to efficiently utilize our employees if increased regulation, policy changes or administrative burdens of immigration, work visas or client worksite placement prevents us from deploying our employees on a timely basis, or at all, to fulfill the needs of our clients. Our utilization rates are further affected by a number of factors, including our ability to transition employees from completed projects to new assignments, hire and assimilate new employees, forecast demand for our services and thereby maintain an appropriate headcount in each of our geographies and workforce and manage attrition, and our need to devote time and resources to training, professional development and other typically non-chargeable activities. Increases in wages and other costs, including as a result of attrition, may also put pressure on our profitability.
With respect to capital return, our ability and decisions to pay dividends and repurchase shares depend on a variety of factors, including the cash flow generated from operations, our cash and investment balances, our net income, our overall liquidity position, potential alternative uses of cash, such as acquisitions, and anticipated future economic conditions and financial results. Failure to carry out our capital return strategy may adversely impact our reputation with shareholders and shareholders’ perception of our business and the trading price of our common stock.
We face challenges related to growing our business organically as well as inorganically through acquisitions, and we may not be able to achieve our targeted growth rates or successfully acquire, invest in or integrate businesses.
Achievement of our targeted growth rates requires continued significant organic growth of our business as well as inorganic growth through acquisitions. To achieve such growth, we must, among other things, continue to significantly expand our global operations, in particular with respect to AI and digital, and scale our infrastructure to support such business growth and ensure that our service offerings remain responsive to market demand. Continued business growth increases the complexity of our business and places significant strain on our management, employees, operations, systems, delivery, financial resources and internal financial control and reporting functions, which we will have to continue to develop and improve to sustain such growth. Our ability to successfully manage change associated with the various business transformation initiatives is critical for our overall strategy execution. We must continually recruit and train new employees, retain and reskill, as necessary, existing sales, technical, finance, marketing and management employees with the knowledge, skills and experience that our business model requires and effectively manage our employees worldwide to support our culture, values, strategies and goals.
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Additionally, we expect to continue pursuing strategic and targeted acquisitions and investments to enhance our offerings of services and solutions or to enable us to expand our talent, experience and capabilities in key AI and digital areas or in particular geographies or industries. We may not be successful in identifying suitable opportunities, completing targeted transactions or achieving the desired results or strategic objectives in the timeframe we expect or at all, such opportunities may divert our management's time and focus away from our core business and realizing the desired results of a particular transaction may depend upon competition, market trends, regulatory developments, additional costs or investments and the actions of suppliers or other third parties. We may face challenges in effectively integrating acquired businesses into our ongoing operations, including the implementation of controls, processes and policies appropriate for a multinational public company at acquired companies that may have previously lacked such functions in areas such as cybersecurity, IT and privacy, among others, and in assimilating and retaining key executives and employees of those businesses into our culture and organizational structure, and these risks may be magnified by the size and number of transactions we execute.
If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, complete acquisitions of the number, magnitude and nature we have targeted, or successfully integrate any acquired businesses into our operations, we may not be able to achieve our targeted growth rates or improve our market share, profitability or competitive position generally or in specific markets or services.
We face legal, reputational and financial risks if we fail to protect client and/or Cognizant data from cybersecurity incidents.
In order to provide our services and solutions, we depend on global information technology networks and systems, to process, transmit, host and securely store electronic information (including our confidential information and the confidential information of our clients) and to communicate among our locations around the world and with our clients, suppliers, vendors and alliance partners (including numerous cloud service providers). Security breaches, employee malfeasance, or human or technological error have in the past and could in the future cause shutdowns or disruptions of our, our vendors' or our clients' operations and potential unauthorized access and/or disclosure of our or our clients’ sensitive data, which in turn could jeopardize projects that are critical to our operations or the operations of our clients’ businesses and have other adverse impacts on our business or the business of our clients.
In addition, the products, services and software that we provide to our clients, or the third-party components we use to provide such products, services and software, have in the past and may in the future unintentionally contain or introduce cybersecurity threats or vulnerabilities to our clients’ information technology networks. Furthermore, the security measures we implement for our cybersecurity solutions clients may not function as expected or be sufficient to identify or protect against certain cybersecurity attacks. Our clients maintain their own proprietary, sensitive, or confidential information that could be compromised in a cybersecurity incident, or their systems may be disabled or disrupted as a result of such an incident. Our clients, regulators, or other third parties have and may in the future attempt to hold us liable for any such losses or damages resulting from such an incident, including through contractual indemnification clauses.
Like other global companies, we and our clients, suppliers, alliance partners (including numerous cloud service providers) and other vendors we interact with face threats to data and systems, including by nation state threat actors, insider threats (including inappropriate access), perpetrators of random or targeted malicious cyberattacks, computer viruses, malware, worms, bot attacks or other destructive or disruptive software and attempts to misappropriate client information and cause system failures and disruptions. Such attacks, or other currently unanticipated threats, could occur in the future. In addition, recent geopolitical tensions have heightened the overall risk of cyber-threats and, while we have taken steps to mitigate such risks, those steps may not be successful. The emergence and maturation of AI capabilities is already being used by malicious actors to amplify cybersecurity attacks. This development may also lead to new or more sophisticated methods of attack and/or a more significant impact on affected parties.
A security compromise of our information systems, of our clients' information systems or of those of other businesses with which we interact (including cloud service providers and software vendors) that results in confidential information being accessed by unauthorized or improper persons, could harm our reputation and expose us to regulatory actions up to and including criminal prosecution, client attrition due to reputational concerns or otherwise, containment and remediation expenses and claims brought by our clients or others for breaching contractual confidentiality and security provisions or data protection laws. Monetary damages imposed on us could be significant and may impose costs in excess of insurance policy limits or not be covered by our insurance at all, and our insurers may not continue to provide coverage on reasonable terms or may disclaim coverage as to any future claims. Techniques used by bad actors to obtain unauthorized access, disable or degrade service, or sabotage systems continuously evolve and may not immediately produce signs of intrusion, and we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. In addition, a security breach could require that we expend substantial additional resources related to the security of our information systems, diverting resources from other projects and disrupting our businesses.
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Our clients, suppliers, subcontractors and other third parties with whom we do business, including in particular cloud service providers and software vendors, generally face similar cybersecurity threats, and we must rely on the safeguards adopted by these parties. If these third parties do not have adequate safeguards or their safeguards fail, it might result in breaches of our systems or applications and unauthorized access to or disclosure of our and our clients’ confidential data. In addition, we are subject to vulnerabilities in third-party technology components we use in our business and are typically not aware of such vulnerabilities until we receive notice from the third parties who have created the exposure. Due to this delay, our responses to such vulnerabilities may not be adequate or prompt enough to prevent their exploitation.
Although our cybersecurity risk management program utilizes various procedures and controls to mitigate our exposure to the risks described above, the cybersecurity threat landscape is rapidly evolving and increasingly sophisticated. There can be no assurance that the procedures and controls that we implement, or that our clients, suppliers, subcontractors and other third parties with whom we do business implement, will be sufficient to protect from cybersecurity threats. Additionally, any remediation measures that we have taken or that we may undertake in the future may be insufficient to prevent future attacks or insufficient for us to quickly recover from any future attack to efficiently continue our business operations.
Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, or the failure of our hedging strategies to mitigate such fluctuations, can adversely impact our profitability, results of operations and financial condition.
Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates can also have adverse effects on our revenues, income from operations and net income when items denominated in other currencies are translated or remeasured into U.S. dollars for presentation of our consolidated financial statements. We have entered into foreign exchange forward and option contracts intended to partially offset the impact of the movement of the exchange rates on future operating costs and to mitigate foreign currency risk on foreign currency denominated net monetary assets. However, the hedging strategies that we have implemented, or may in the future implement, to mitigate foreign currency exchange rate risks may not reduce or completely offset our exposure to foreign exchange rate fluctuations and may expose our business to unexpected market, operational and counterparty credit risks. We are particularly susceptible to wage and cost pressures in India and the exchange rate of the Indian rupee relative to the currencies of our client contracts due to the fact that the substantial majority of our employees are in India while our contracts with clients are typically in the local currency of the country where our clients are located.
Pandemics, epidemics or other outbreaks of disease have had and may in the future have a material adverse impact upon our business, liquidity, results of operations and financial condition.
Any pandemic, epidemic or other outbreak of disease may have widespread, rapidly evolving and unpredictable impacts on global society, economies, financial markets and business practices by, among other things, causing significant loss of life, curtailing congregation of people and disrupting communications and travel. Such events may have a material adverse impact upon, our business, liquidity, results of operations and financial condition, including as a result of reduced client demand for our services, closures of our clients' facilities that materially impair our ability to deliver services to our clients and satisfy contractually agreed upon service levels and increased strain on employees and management, as we saw at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ultimate extent to which any future pandemics, epidemics or other outbreaks of disease impact our business, liquidity, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted with confidence, including the severity of the disease to which the pandemic, epidemic or other outbreak relates; delivery, adoption and effectiveness of vaccines or other treatments for the disease, including any variants; the duration and extent of the event and waves of infection; travel restrictions and social distancing; the duration and extent of business closures and business disruptions; and the effectiveness of actions taken to contain, treat and prevent the disease. If we or our clients experience prolonged shutdowns or other business disruptions, our business, liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and the trading price of our common stock may be materially adversely affected, and our ability to access the capital markets may be limited. Further, any future pandemic, epidemic or other outbreak of disease, and the volatile regional and global economic conditions stemming from such an event, could precipitate or amplify the other risk factors that we identify in this report, any of which could have a material adverse impact to our business.
Extreme weather and risks arising from the transition to a lower-carbon economy may impact our business.
There are inherent climate- and weather-related risks everywhere that we conduct our business. Developments related to regulatory, social or market dynamics, stakeholder expectations, national and international climate change policies, the actual or perceived frequency or intensity of extreme weather events or the availability and functionality of critical infrastructure and resources, in addition to other factors resulting from such developments or that may not otherwise be known to or anticipated by us, could significantly disrupt our supply chain, our clients' operations and our ability to deliver services. Such events could significantly increase our costs and expenses and harm our revenues, cash flows and financial performance. Further, natural disasters and adverse weather events, such as droughts, wildfires, storms, sea-level rise and flooding, occurring more
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frequently, with less predictability or with greater intensity due to climate change or other drivers, could cause community disruptions and impact our employees’ abilities to commute or to work from home safely and effectively.
Evolving and conflicting sustainability and societal related expectations or standards could adversely affect our business or damage our reputation.
Shifting stakeholder expectations and evolving regulatory and disclosure standards around sustainability and societal matters could impact our business. We are subject to, and expect to become increasingly subject to, laws, regulations and international treaties relating to sustainability. As these new laws, regulations, treaties and similar initiatives and programs continue to be adopted and implemented, we will be required to comply or potentially face market access limitations, enforcement actions, civil suits or sanctions, including fines. If new laws or regulations are more stringent than current legal or regulatory requirements, we may experience increased compliance burdens and costs to meet such obligations. If we fail to comply with new laws, regulations, treaties, or reporting requirements, our reputation and business could be adversely impacted. Our ability to meet our sustainability ambitions is also subject to external factors outside of our control including the ability and willingness of our suppliers to reduce emissions and the advancement of new emission reducing technologies. In addition, global clients often rely on sustainability rating systems for bids and buying practices, and yet the criteria used in the ratings may conflict and change frequently, and we cannot predict how these third parties will score us, nor can we have any assurance that they score us or other companies accurately, or that we will be able to score well as such criteria change. We supplement our participation in ratings systems with published disclosures of our sustainability and societal activities, but some investors may desire other disclosures that we do not provide.
At the same time, an increasing number of stakeholders, including regulators, and lawmakers have expressed or pursued conflicting views, legislation and investment expectations with respect to sustainability and societal ratings, ambitions and disclosures, which may expose us to additional legal, financial or reputational risks based upon our sustainability and societal ambitions and disclosures. We may be unable to satisfy all of our stakeholders on these matters, and as a result our reputation, our ability to attract or retain employees and our business could be negatively affected.
If our risk management, business resilience and disaster recovery plans are not effective and our global delivery capabilities are impacted, our business and results of operations may be materially adversely affected and we may suffer harm to our reputation.
Our business model is dependent on our global delivery capabilities, which include coordination among our delivery centers in India, our other global and regional delivery centers, the offices of our clients and our associates worldwide. System failures, outages and operational disruptions may be caused by factors outside of our control, such as hostilities, political unrest, terrorist attacks, cybersecurity incidents, power or water shortages or telecommunications failures, natural or man-made disasters or other catastrophic events (including the impact of extreme weather conditions), and public health emergencies, epidemics and pandemics, affecting the geographies where our people, equipment and clients are located. Our risk management, business resilience and disaster recovery plans may not be effective at predicting, mitigating, or responding to the effects of such disruptions, particularly in the case of catastrophic events. Even if our operations are unaffected or recover quickly from any such events, if our clients cannot timely resume their own operations due to a catastrophic event, they may reduce or terminate our services, which may adversely affect our results of operations. Any such disruption may result in lost revenues, a loss of clients, liabilities relating to disruptions in service, expenditures to repair or replace damaged property and reputational damage, and could demand significant management time and attention, any of which would have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Legal, Regulatory and Legislative Risks
A substantial portion of our employees in the United States, United Kingdom, EU and other jurisdictions rely on visas to work in those areas such that any restrictions on such visas or immigration more generally or increased costs of obtaining such visas or increases in the wages we are required to pay employees on visas may affect our ability to compete for and provide services to clients in these jurisdictions, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
A substantial portion of our employees in the United States and in many other jurisdictions, including countries in Europe, rely upon temporary work authorization or work permits, which makes our business particularly vulnerable to changes and variations in immigration laws and regulations, including written changes and policy changes to the manner in which the laws and regulations are interpreted or enforced, and potential enforcement actions and penalties that might cause us to lose access to such visas. The political environment in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries in recent years has included significant support for anti-immigrant legislation and administrative changes. Many of these recent changes have resulted in, and various proposed and enacted changes may result in, increased difficulty in obtaining timely visas, whether as a
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result of visa application rejections, delays in processing applications, significantly increased costs to obtain visas, prevailing wage requirements for our employees on visas or otherwise, which could in turn impact our ability to staff projects. In addition, immigration reform, including as a result of changes to immigration policies, and the increased uncertainty surrounding such policies in light of the U.S. administration's immigration agenda and related litigation, may have a material adverse impact on companies like ours that have a substantial percentage of our employees on visas. Our principal operating subsidiary in the United States utilizes a high number of skilled workers holding H-1B and L-1 visas and, as a result, may be subject to increased costs and visa processing delays upon the effectiveness of any such laws, regulations, policy changes or executive orders. In the EU, many countries continue to implement new regulations to ensure compliance with the EU Directive of 2014 to harmonize immigration rules for intracompany transferees in most EU member states and to facilitate the transfer of managers, specialists and graduate trainees both into and within the region. The changes have had significant impact on mobility programs and have led to new notification and documentation requirements for companies sending employees to EU countries. Recent changes or any additional adverse revisions to immigration laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate may cause us delays, staffing shortages, additional costs or an inability to bid for or fulfill projects for clients, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
Anti-outsourcing legislation, if adopted, and negative perceptions associated with offshore outsourcing could impair our ability to serve our clients and materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
The practice of outsourcing services to organizations operating in other countries is a topic of political discussion in the United States, which is our largest market, as well as other regions in which we have clients. For example, in the United States, measures aimed at limiting or restricting the performance of services from an offshore location or imposing burdens on U.S. companies that utilize such services have been put forward for consideration at both the federal and state levels to address concerns over the perceived association between offshore outsourcing and the loss of jobs domestically. If any such measure is enacted in the United States or another region in which we have clients, our ability to provide services to our clients could be impaired.
In addition, from time to time there has been publicity about purported negative experiences associated with offshore outsourcing, such as alleged domestic job loss and theft and misappropriation of sensitive client data, particularly involving service providers in India. Current or prospective clients may elect to perform certain services themselves or may be discouraged from utilizing global service delivery providers like us due to negative perceptions that may be associated with using global service delivery models or firms. Any slowdown or reversal of existing industry trends toward global service delivery would seriously harm our ability to compete effectively with competitors that provide the majority of their services from within the country in which our clients operate.
We are subject to numerous and evolving legal and regulatory requirements and client expectations in the many jurisdictions in which we operate, and violations of, unfavorable changes in or an inability to meet such requirements or expectations could harm our business.
We provide services to clients and have operations in many parts of the world and in a wide variety of different industries, subjecting us to numerous, evolving, and sometimes conflicting, standards, laws and regulations on matters as diverse as trade controls and sanctions, immigration (including temporary work authorizations or work permits), content requirements, trade restrictions, tariffs, taxation, antitrust laws, anti-money laundering and anti-corruption laws (including the FCPA and the U.K. Bribery Act), the environment, including climate change regulation and reporting requirements, government affairs, internal and disclosure control obligations, data security, privacy and data protection, intellectual property, employment and labor relations, human rights and AI. For example, we are required to comply with increasingly complex and changing data security and privacy laws and regulations in the many jurisdictions in which we operate that regulate the collection, storage, use, disclosure, transfer and security of personal data, including U.S. federal and state laws (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and non-U.S. laws, such as the India Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, the U.K. General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the E.U. GDPR. These laws and regulations are continuously evolving and developing, creating significant uncertainty as they may be interpreted and applied differently from country to country, creating inconsistent or conflicting requirements. We face significant regulatory compliance costs and risks as a result of the size and breadth of our business, and these costs may increase as a result of changes in government policy. For example, the Government of India implemented the Labor Code, which we expect to modestly increase our defined benefit costs prospectively. Certain aspects of the Labor Code rely on the issuance of rules and regulations. Additionally, the Government of India is in the process of clarifying certain aspects of the Labor Code. The issuance of rules and regulations as well as the outcome of these clarifications could increase new employment obligations, create operational and administrative burdens, trigger higher compliance penalties, and enforcement uncertainties during the transition period, which may result in increased costs in 2026 and future years due to expanded social security and employment coverage.
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We are also subject to a wide range of potential enforcement actions, audits or investigations regarding our compliance with these laws or regulations in the conduct of our business, and any finding of a violation could subject us to a wide range of civil or criminal penalties, including fines, debarment, or suspension or disqualification from government contracting, prohibitions or restrictions on doing business in one or more jurisdictions, loss of clients and business, legal claims by clients and unfavorable publicity or damage to our reputation. We could also face significant compliance and operational burdens and incur significant costs in our efforts to comply with or rectify non-compliance with these laws or regulations. Such burdens or costs may result in an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.
We commit significant financial and managerial resources to comply with our internal control over financial reporting requirements, but we have in the past identified and may in the future identify material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that cause us to incur incremental remediation costs in order to maintain adequate controls.
Our employees, subcontractors, vendors, agents, alliance partners, the companies we acquire and their employees, vendors and agents, and other third parties with which we associate, have in the past and could in the future take actions that violate policies or procedures designed to promote legal and regulatory compliance or applicable anticorruption laws or regulations. Violations of these laws or regulations by us, our employees or any of these third parties could subject us to criminal or civil enforcement actions (whether or not we participated or knew about the actions leading to the violations), including fines or penalties, disgorgement of profits and suspension or disqualification from work, including U.S. federal contracting, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, including our results of operations and our reputation.
Changes in tax laws or in their interpretation or enforcement, failure by us to adapt our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements or adverse outcomes of tax audits, investigations or proceedings could have a material adverse effect on our effective tax rate, results of operations and financial condition.
The interpretation of tax laws and regulations in the many jurisdictions in which we operate and the related tax accounting principles are complex and require considerable judgment to determine our income taxes and other tax liabilities worldwide. Tax laws and regulations affecting us and our clients, including applicable tax rates, and the interpretation and enforcement of such laws and regulations are subject to change as a result of macroeconomic, geopolitical and other factors, and any such changes or changes in tax accounting principles could increase our effective worldwide income tax rate and have a material adverse effect on our net income, cash flows and financial condition. We routinely review and update our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements, including transfer pricing policies, consistent with applicable laws and regulations, to align with our evolving business operations across the numerous jurisdictions, such as the United States, India and the United Kingdom, in which we operate. Failure to successfully adapt our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements to align with our evolving business operations may increase our worldwide effective tax rate and have a material adverse effect on our earnings, cash flows and financial condition.
Our worldwide effective income tax rate may increase or our financial condition may be materially impacted as a result of developments, changes in interpretations and assumptions made, additional guidance that may be issued and ongoing and future actions the Company has or may take with respect to our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements.
Additionally, we are subject to routine tax audits, investigations and proceedings in various jurisdictions. Tax authorities have disagreed, and may in the future disagree, with our judgments, and are taking increasingly aggressive positions, including with respect to our intercompany transactions. For example, we are currently involved in an ongoing dispute with the ITD in which the ITD asserts that we owe additional taxes for two transactions by which CTS India repurchased shares from its shareholders, as more fully described in Note 10 to the consolidated financial statements. We may not accurately predict the outcomes of these audits, investigations and proceedings and the amounts ultimately paid upon their resolution could be materially different from the amounts previously included in our income tax provision. Adverse outcomes in any such audits, investigations or proceedings could increase our tax exposure and cause us to incur increased expense, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Our business subjects us to considerable potential exposure to litigation and legal claims and we could be materially adversely affected if we incur legal liability.
We are subject to, and may become a party to, a variety of litigation or other claims and suits that arise from time to time in the conduct of our business. Our business is subject to the risk of litigation involving current and former employees, clients, our clients' customers, alliance partners, subcontractors, suppliers, competitors, shareholders, government agencies or others through private actions, class actions, whistleblower claims, administrative proceedings, regulatory actions or other litigation.
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While we maintain insurance for certain potential liabilities, such insurance does not cover all types and amounts of potential liabilities and is subject to various exclusions as well as deductibles and caps on amounts recoverable.
Our client engagements expose us to significant potential legal liability and litigation expense if we fail to meet our contractual obligations or otherwise breach obligations to third parties or if our subcontractors breach or dispute the terms of our agreements with them and impede our ability to meet our obligations to our clients. We also face considerable potential legal liability from a variety of other sources. Our acquisition activities have in the past and may in the future be subject to litigation or other claims, including claims from employees, clients, stockholders, or other third parties. We have also been the subject of a number of putative securities class action complaints and putative shareholder derivative complaints relating to the matters that were the subject of our now concluded internal investigation into potential violations of the FCPA and other applicable laws, and may be subject to such legal actions for other matters in the future. See " Part I, Item 3. Legal Proceedings " for more information. We establish reserves for these and other matters when a loss is considered probable and the amount can be reasonably estimated; however, the estimation of legal reserves and possible losses involves significant judgment and may not reflect the full range of uncertainties and unpredictable outcomes inherent in litigation, and the actual losses arising from particular matters may exceed our estimates and materially adversely affect our results of operations.
If we infringe upon the IP rights of others or our IP rights are infringed upon, our business may be adversely affected.
Third parties have in the past and may in the future claim that we infringe upon their IP rights. Further, in most of our contracts, we have agreed to indemnify our clients for liabilities and expenses related to IP infringement and, in some instances, the cost associated with these indemnities may exceed the revenue that we receive from the client. Any such claims of IP infringement could harm our reputation, cause us to incur substantial costs in defending ourselves or our clients, expose us to considerable legal liability or prevent us from offering some services or solutions in the future.
We rely on a combination of patent, copyright and trade secret laws, confidentiality procedures and contractual provisions to protect our IP. The existing laws in the various countries in which we provide services or solutions may offer only limited protection of our intellectual property and are subject to change at any time. Furthermore, the legal landscape surrounding IP protection of software technologies, including AI, is rapidly evolving and as a result there is uncertainty concerning the scope of IP protection for our software IP rights. We are engaging in and may in the future have to engage in legal action to protect our own IP rights. Enforcing our rights may require considerable time, money and oversight, and we may not be successful in our efforts.
Item 1B . Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 1C . Cybersecurity
Risk Management and Strategy
Cybersecurity risk management is an integral part of our overall enterprise risk management program. Our cybersecurity risk management program, which is managed by Cognizant’s Corporate Security team, is designed to identify, assess and manage risks from cybersecurity threats and provides a framework for handling cybersecurity threats and incidents. The program is also aligned with the risk assessment framework established by the enterprise risk management team.
Our cybersecurity risk management framework includes steps for assessing the severity of a cybersecurity threat (including an escalation process for potentially material cybersecurity threats and incidents to an internal committee comprised of members of senior management), identifying the source of a cybersecurity threat (including whether the cybersecurity threat is associated with a third-party service provider), implementing cybersecurity countermeasures and mitigation strategies. The internal committee is responsible for assessing the materiality of cybersecurity threats and incidents and informs designated members of executive leadership and of the Board of Directors of material cybersecurity threats and incidents.
Cognizant's cybersecurity risk management program is guided by industry-recognized security frameworks, including NIST SP 800-37 (Risk Management Framework), NIST SP 800-30 (Risk Assessment Guide), and NIST SP 800-53 (Security and Privacy Controls). In addition, Cognizant maintains global and regional information security certifications such as ISO 27001, UK Cyber Essentials Plus, and ENS, which collectively help demonstrate Cognizant's commitment to a robust, independently validated security program. Cognizant considers the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF 2.0) in designing our cybersecurity program and engages an independent third party to assess program maturity. Additionally, we also engage third-party cybersecurity experts to conduct penetration testing among other items. Key findings from the third-party assessments are
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summarized and communicated to the Company's senior leadership and the Audit Committee, and remediation actions are implemented to enhance our overall cybersecurity program.
We require our vendors to comply with privacy and cybersecurity requirements, and we perform risk assessments of vendors, including their ability to protect data from unauthorized access. We include data protection and security content as part of annual training required of employees.
In 2025, we did not identify any cybersecurity threats that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect our business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. For further discussion of the cybersecurity risks and threats we face, please see Item 1A. “Risk Factors” .
Governance
As part of our overall enterprise risk management program, we prioritize the identification and management of cybersecurity risk at several levels. Our Board of Directors has overall oversight responsibility for our risk management, and delegates cybersecurity risk management oversight to the Audit Committee, which is responsible for reviewing that management has processes in place designed to identify and evaluate cybersecurity risks and implement processes and programs to manage cybersecurity risks and mitigate cybersecurity incidents.
Management is responsible for identifying, considering and assessing material cybersecurity risks on an ongoing basis, establishing processes designed to ensure that such potential cybersecurity risk exposures are monitored, putting in place appropriate mitigation measures and maintaining cybersecurity programs.
Our cyber risk assessment program is managed by our Corporate Security team, which is led by our CSO, who has over 25 years of experience in the cybersecurity and technology industry. The CSO reports to Cognizant's CLO. The CSO manages multiple teams within Corporate Security that are operationally responsible for the security of the Company, including Global Cyber Operations, Business Information Security, Global Business Resilience, Integrated Risk Management and Security Architecture (including AI Security), each of which provides regular updates to the CSO regarding cyber threat intelligence, cyber incidents and cyber risk metrics as part of their security responsibilities. The CSO works closely with the CIO, who is responsible for Cognizant's information technology and digital transformation strategy. Together, the CSO and CIO have a mutual set of responsibilities to align, implement and govern security policies, standards and technology controls throughout the enterprise. On a quarterly basis, the CSO and CIO provide updates to the Audit Committee on, among other things, key cybersecurity metrics, status of projects to strengthen the Company's information security systems and assessments of the Company's security program. The Audit Committee reports to the Board of Directors, which also receives periodic updates on such matters.
Item 2. Properties
We have operations in major metro areas across nearly 50 countries around the world, with our worldwide headquarters located in a leased facility in Teaneck, New Jersey in the United States. We utilize a global delivery model with delivery centers worldwide, including in-country, regional and global delivery centers. We have over 22 million square feet of owned and leased facilities for our delivery centers. Our largest delivery center presence is in India, representing approximately 90% of our total delivery centers on a square-foot basis, with the largest presence in Chennai (7 million square feet), Hyderabad (3 million square feet), Pune (2 million square feet), Kolkata (2 million square feet) and Bangalore (2 million square feet). We also have a significant number of delivery centers in other countries, including the United States, Philippines, Canada, and countries throughout Europe and Latin America. In addition, we have sales and marketing offices, innovation and GenAI labs, and digital design and consulting centers in major business markets, including New York, London, Paris, Melbourne and Singapore, among others. Our facilities are used to support clients across all four reportable business segments.
We believe our current facilities are adequate to support our operations in the immediate future, and that we will be able to obtain suitable additional facilities on commercially reasonable terms as needed.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
See Note 14 to our consolidated financial statements.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our Class A common stock trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “CTSH.” As of December 31, 2025, the number of holders of record of our Class A common stock was 88 and th e approximate number of beneficial holders of our Class A common stock w as 697,100.
Cash Dividends
During 2025, we paid quarterly cash dividends of $0.31 per share, or $1.24 per share in total for the year. In February 2026, our Board of Directors approved a cash dividend of $0.33 per share with a record date of February 18, 2026 and a payment date of February 26, 2026. We intend to continue to pay quarterly cash dividends in accordance with our capital allocation framework. Future dividend payments depend on a variety of factors, including cash flow generated from operations, cash and investment balances, net income, overall liquidity position, potential alternative uses of cash, such as acquisitions, and anticipated future economic conditions and financial results.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our stock repurchase program was initially adopted in 2017 and has been amended from time to time, including most recently in March 2025, to authorize the repurchase of up to $13.5 billion, excluding fees and expenses, of our Class A common stock through open market purchases, including under a 10b5-1 Plan in accordance with applicable federal securities laws. The repurchase program does not have an expiration date and had a remaining balance of $1,918 million as of December 31, 2025. The timing of repurchases and the exact number of shares to be purchased are determined by management, in its discretion, or pursuant to a 10b5-1 Plan, and depend upon market conditions and other factors.
During the three months ended December 31, 2025, we repurchased $325 million of our Class A common stock under our stock repurchase program as follows:
Month
Total Number
of Shares
Purchased
Average
Price Paid
per Share
Total Number of
Shares Purchased
as Part of Publicly
Announced
Plans or
Programs
Approximate
Dollar Value of Shares
that May Yet Be
Purchased under the
Plans or Programs
(in millions)
October 1, 2025 - October 31, 2025
November 1, 2025 - November 30, 2025
December 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025
Total
We regularly purchase shares in connection with our stock-based compensation plans as shares of our Class A common stock are tendered by employees for payment of applicable statutory tax withholdings. For the three months ended December 31, 2025, we purchased 0.2 million shares at an aggregate cost of $13 million in connection with employee tax withholding obligations.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
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Performance Graph
The following graph compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our Class A common stock with the cumulative total return on the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Information Technology Index for the period beginning December 31, 2020 and ending on the last day of our last completed fiscal year. The stock performance shown on the graph below is not indicative of future price performance.
COMPARISON OF CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN (1)(2)
Among Cognizant, the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Information Technology Index
Company / Index
Base
Period
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp
S&P 500 Index
S&P 500 Information Technology Index
(1) Graph assumes $100 invested on December 31, 2020 in our Class A common stock, the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Information Technology Index.
(2) Cumulative total return assumes reinvestment of dividends.
Item 6. [Reserved]
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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
Executive Summary
Cognizant is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, engineering modern businesses and delivering strategic outcomes for our clients. We help clients modernize technology, reimagine processes and transform experiences so they can stay ahead in today's fast-changing world, where AI is reshaping organizations in every field. As an AI builder, we provide deep expertise at the intersection of industry and technology, combining our perspective with extensive knowledge of our clients' organizations to build industry-specific platforms and incorporate context into systems, AI models and custom solutions. We tailor our services and solutions to specific industries with an integrated global delivery model that employs client service and delivery teams based at client locations and dedicated global and regional delivery centers. Our services include consulting, application development, systems integration, quality engineering and assurance, engineering research and development, application maintenance, infrastructure and security as well as business process services and automation.
2025 Financial Results 1
Revenues
Income from Operations
Operating Margin
Diluted EPS
GAAP
Adjusted 1
GAAP
Adjusted 1
GAAP
Adjusted 1
Revenue up $1,372 million or 7.0% from 2024; an increase of 6.4% in constant currency 1
Income from Operations up $497 million or 17.2% from 2024
Adjusted Income from Operations 1 up $301 million or 9.9% from 2024
Operating margin up 140 basis points from 2024
Adjusted Operating Margin 1 up 50 basis points from 2024
Diluted EPS up $0.05 or 1.1% from 2024
Adjusted Diluted EPS 1 up $0.53 or 11.2% from 2024
During the year ended December 31, 2025, revenues increased by $1,372 million as compared to the year ended December 31, 2024, representing an increase of 7.0%, or 6.4% on a constant currency basis 1 . Our acquisition of Belcan contributed 260 basis points to revenue growth. Additionally, revenues were positively impacted by growth in our Health Sciences and Financial Services segments, partially offset by weakness in our Products and Resources (excluding the acquisition of Belcan) and Communications Media and Technology segments.
Our operating margin and Adjusted Operating Margin 1 increased to 16.1% and 15.8%, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2025, from 14.7% and 15.3%, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2024. Our 2025 GAAP and Adjusted Operating Margins were positively impacted by net savings generated from our NextGen program, operational efficiencies and the beneficial impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements, partially offset by increased compensation costs and the dilutive impact of the acquisition of Belcan. In addition, our GAAP operating margin for 2025 was positively impacted by 30 basis points, or $62 million, from the gain on sale of property and equipment, and our GAAP operating margin for 2024 was negatively impacted by NextGen charges, both of which were excluded from our Adjusted Operating Margin 1 .
1 Adjusted Income From Operations, Adjusted Operating Margin, Adjusted Diluted EPS and constant currency revenue growth are not measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.
Cognizant
December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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As a global professional services company, we compete on the basis of the knowledge, experience, insights, skills and talent of our employees and the value they can provide to our clients. We closely monitor attrition trends focusing on the metric that we believe is most relevant to our business. For the year ended December 31, 2025 our Voluntary Attrition - Tech Services was 13.9% as compared to 15.9% for the year ended December 31, 2024. We finished 2025 with approximately 351,600 employees as compared to 336,800 employees at the end of 2024.
In July 2025, the OBBBA was enacted in the United States, which, among other provisions, repealed the requirement to capitalize U.S. R&E costs. As a result, we do not believe it is more likely than not that we will realize our deferred tax asset of $390 million related to R&E costs capitalized outside the United States. These amounts would have otherwise been available to offset certain future U.S. taxes on our non-U.S. earnings, which, as a result of this repeal, we no longer project to be applicable to us. Therefore, in the third quarter of 2025, we recorded a one-time, non-cash income tax expense of $390 million. This impacted our full year 2025 GAAP diluted EPS by $0.80, which is added back for the calculation of Adjusted EPS. Other than this impact, we do not expect the OBBBA to significantly impact our effective income tax rate. Additionally, as a result of this repeal, our cash taxes during 2025 were reduced by approximately $200 million as compared to our initial cash tax projections prior to the repeal. These assessments are based upon our current interpretation of the OBBBA, which may change as a result of future clarifications or guidance.
The Government of India implemented labor law reforms effective November 21, 2025, including the Code on Social Security, 2020. As a result, during the fourth quarter of 2025, we recorded a one-time increase to our defined benefit liability for past service of $147 million, in "Other noncurrent liabilities" in our consolidated statement of financial position with a corresponding increase in "Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)". Additionally, we anticipate a modest increase in our defined benefit costs prospectively. Certain aspects of the Labor Code rely on the issuance of rules and regulations. Additionally, the Government of India is in the process of clarifying certain aspects of the Labor Code. The issuance of rules and regulations as well as the outcome of these clarifications could impact our compensation and benefit expenses in India.
Business Outlook
See "Overview" within Part I, Item 1. Business for information on our strategic approach.
We continue to expect our clients' focus to be on their transformation into AI-ready, technology-driven, data-enabled, customer-centric and differentiated businesses. To support this transformation and drive greater business resiliency, clients have demanded and may increasingly demand services and solutions that deliver productivity and cost savings. We believe clients will continue to contend with industry-specific changes driven by evolving digital technologies, uncertainty in the regulatory environment, industry consolidation and convergence as well as international trade policie s, including tariffs, and other macroeconomic and geopolitical factors. This includes the uncertainty related to the global economy, which has affected and may continue to affect their demand for our services and discretionary work.
We increasingly use AI-based technologies, including GenAI, in our client offerings and our own internal operations. AI technologies and services are part of a highly competitive and rapidly evolving market. We plan to continue to make significant investments in our AI capabilities to meet the needs of our clients and harness AI's value in a flexible, secure, scalable and responsible way. As AI-based technologies or other forms of automation evolve, demand for some services that we currently perform for our clients may be reduced and our ability to obtain favorable pricing or other terms for some of our services may be diminished.
Potential tax law and other regulatory and administrative changes, including judicial decisions thereon, may impact our future results. In addition, in March 2024, India and Mauritius signed a Protocol to amend the India-Mauritius Income Tax Treaty. We continue to evaluate the potential impact of the amendment, which, depending on its final terms when entered into force, could increase our effective income tax rate, as CTS India is a subsidiary of our wholly-owned Mauritius entity. For additional information, see Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Cognizant
December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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Results of Operations
For a discussion of our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023, including a year-to-year comparison between 2024 and 2023, refer to Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.
The Year Ended December 31, 2025 Compared to The Year Ended December 31, 2024
The following table sets forth certain financial data for the years ended December 31:
Increase / Decrease
(Dollars in millions, except per share data)
Revenues
Revenues
Revenues
Operating expenses:
Cost of revenues (a)
Selling, general and administrative expenses (a)
Restructuring charges
Depreciation and amortization expense
(Gain) on sale of property and equipment
Income from operations and operating margin
Other income (expense), net
Income before provision for income taxes
Provision for income taxes
Income (loss) from equity method investments
Net income
Diluted EPS
Other Financial Information 2
Adjusted Income From Operations and Adjusted Operating Margin
Adjusted Diluted EPS
(a) Exclusive of depreciation and amortization expense
N/A Not Applicable
N/A Not Applicable 2
2 Adjusted Income from Operations, Adjusted Operating Margin and Adjusted Diluted EPS are not measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, as applicable.
Cognizant
December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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Revenues - Reportable Business Segments and Geographic Markets
Revenues of $21,108 million across our business segments and geographies were as follows for the year ended December 31, 2025:
2025 as compared to 2024
Increase
(Dollars in millions)
Health Sciences
Financial Services
Products and Resources
CMT
Total revenues
2025 as compared to 2024
Increase
(Dollars in millions)
North America
United Kingdom
Continental Europe
Europe - Total
Rest of World
Total revenues
Change in revenues was driven by the following factors:
• Revenue growth across all geographies was primarily driven by our Financial Services and Health Sciences segments, which were positively impacted by the ramp up of several recently won large deals;
• Our acquisition of Belcan contributed 260 basis points of growth to the overall revenue growth, including approximately 960 basis points of growth to our Products and Resources segment, primarily in North America and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom;
• Our Communications Media and Technology segment has seen weakness amongst communications and media customers, offset by growth in technology customers.
3 Constant currency revenue growth is not a measure of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information.
Cognizant
December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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Cost of Revenues (Exclusive of Depreciation and Amortization Expense)
0.6% as a % of revenues
¡ % of Revenues
Our cost of revenues consists primarily of salaries, incentive-based compensation, stock-based compensation expense, employee benefits, project-related immigration and travel for technical personnel, subcontracting and costs of third-party products and services relating to revenues. The increase, as a percentage of revenues, was driven by increased compensation costs, the dilutive impact of the acquisition of Belcan and resales of third-party products in connection with our integrated offerings strategy, partially offset by operational efficiencies and the beneficial impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements.
SG&A Expenses (Exclusive of Depreciation and Amortization Expense)
SG&A expenses consist primarily of salaries, incentive-based compensation, stock-based compensation expense, employee benefits, immigration, travel, marketing, communications, management, finance, administrative and occupancy costs. The decrease, as a percentage of revenues, was primarily driven by net savings generated from our NextGen program.
1.0% as a % of revenues
¡ % of Revenues
Gain on Sale of Property and Equipment
During the year ended December 31, 2025, we realized a gain of $62 million on the sale of an office complex in India. For further detail see Note 5 to our consolidated financial statements.
Depreciation and Amortization Expense
Depreciation and amortization expense increased by 4.0%, and remained relatively flat as a percentage of revenues, in 2025 as compared to 2024. The increase in amortization expense, driven by intangible assets related to our acquisition of Belcan, was partially offset by the decline of depreciation expense, which was driven by actions taken under our NextGen program.
Operating Margin and Adjusted Operating Margin 4 - Overall
The increase in our 2025 GAAP operating margin and Adjusted Operating Margin 4 was primarily driven by net savings generated from our NextGen program, operational efficiencies and the beneficial impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements, partially offset by increased compensation costs and the dilutive impact of the acquisition of Belcan. In addition, our GAAP operating margin for 2025 was positively impacted by 30 basis points, or $62 million, from the gain on sale of property and equipment, and our GAAP operating margin for 2024 was negatively impacted by NextGen charges, both of which were excluded from our Adjusted Operating Margin. 4
4 Adjusted Income From Operations and Adjusted Operating Margin are not measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, as applicable.
Cognizant
December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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A predominant portion of our costs in India are denominated in the Indian rupee, representing approximately 23% of our global operating costs during the year ended December 31, 2025. These costs are subject to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, which have an impact on our results of operations. We enter into foreign exchange derivative contracts to hedge certain Indian rupee denominated payments in India. These hedges are intended to mitigate the volatility of the changes in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Indian rupee. Including the impact of the hedges, the depreciation of the Indian rupee positively impacted our operating margin for the year ended December 31, 2025 by 50 basis points as compared to the year ended December 31, 2024.
Excluding the impact of applicable designated cash flow hedges, the depreciation of the Indian rupee against the U.S. dollar positively impacted our operating margin by approximately 70 basis points in 2025. Each additional 1.0% change in exchange rate between the Indian rupee and the U.S. dollar will have the effect of moving our operating margin by approximately 17 basis points (excluding the impact of our cash flow hedges). In 2025, the settlement of our cash flow hedges negatively impacted our operating margin by approximately 15 basis points, compared to a positive impact of 5 basis points in 2024.
Segment Operating Profit
In the first quarter of 2025, we made certain changes to the internal measurement of segment operating profit for the purpose of evaluating segment performance and resource allocation. The primary reason for the change was to reflect a more complete cost of delivery. Specifically, segment operating profit now includes an allocation of corporate costs, which were previously included in "unallocated costs." We have reported 2025 segment operating profits using the new allocation methodology and have recast the 2024 results to conform to the new methodology. While we have recast the 2024 results to conform to the new methodology, it is impracticable for us to recast our 2023 segment operating results as the detailed information required for the allocation of such costs to the segments is not reasonably available.
Segment operating profit and operating margin percentage were as follows:
Segment operating profit
Segment operating margin
In 2025, segment operating margins across all our segments were positively impacted by net savings generated from our NextGen program, operational efficiencies and the beneficial impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements, partially offset by increased compensation costs. In 2025, segment operating profit in the Products and Resources segment was negatively impacted by the dilutive impact of the Belcan acquisition and by resales of third-party products in connection with our integrated offerings strategy.
Total segment operating profit was as follows for the year ended December 31:
(Dollars in millions)
% of Revenues
% of Revenues
Increase / (Decrease)
Total segment operating profit
Less: unallocated costs
Income from operations
The decrease in unallocated costs for 2025 as compared to 2024 was primarily driven by the 2025 gain on sale of property and equipment and the absence of NextGen charges, partially offset by higher amortization of intangible assets and certain corporate costs.
Cognizant
December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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Other Income (Expense), Net
Total other income (expense), net consists primarily of foreign currency exchange gains and losses, interest income and interest expense. The following table sets forth total other income (expense), net for the years ended December 31:
(in millions)
Increase / Decrease
Foreign currency exchange gains (losses)
Gains on foreign exchange forward contracts not designated as hedging instruments
Foreign currency exchange gains (losses), net
Interest income
Interest expense
Other, net
Total other income (expense), net
The foreign currency exchan ge gains and losses were attributed to the remeasurement of net monetary assets and liabilities denominated in currencies other than the functional currencies of our subsidiaries. The gains on foreign exchange forward contracts not designated as hedging instruments related to the realized and unrealized gains and losses on cont racts en tered into to offset our foreign currency exposures. As of December 31, 2025, the notional value of our undesignated hedges was $748 million. Interest income declined in 2025 as compared to 2024, driven by a mix of lower invested balances and lower yields. Higher interest expense during 2024 was driven by the borrowing of $600 million under our revolving credit facility to partially fund the acquisition of Belcan during the third quarter of 2024. The borrowing was subsequently repaid in the fourth quarter of 2024 and first quarter of 2025.
Provision for Income Taxes
¡ Effective Income Tax Rate é 11.9%
The effective income tax rate for 2025 was negatively impacted by the one-time, non-cash income tax expense of $390 million related to the enactment of the OBBBA. See Note 10 to our consolidated financial statements for additional information.
Net Income
The decrease in net income was primarily driven by the one-time, non-cash income tax expense of $390 million related to the enactment of the OBBBA, partially offset by an increase in income from operations, including the $62 million gain on sale of property and equipment.
0.7% as a % of revenues
¡ % of Revenues
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Portions of our disclosure include non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles and should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP, and may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. In addition, these non-GAAP financial measures should be read in conjunction with our financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. The reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the corresponding GAAP measures set forth below should be carefully evaluated.
Our non-GAAP financial measures Adjusted Operating Margin and Adjusted Income from Operations exclude unusual items, such as the gain on sale of property and equipment in 2025 and NextGen charges in 2024. Our non-GAAP financial measure Adjusted Diluted EPS excludes unusual items, such as the one-time income tax expense related to the enactment of the OBBBA, the gain on sale of property and equipment and NextGen charges, and net non-operating foreign currency exchange gains or losses and the tax impact of all the applicable adjustments. For further detail on the NextGen charges, see Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements. The income tax impact of each item excluded from Adjusted Diluted EPS is calculated by applying the statutory rate and local tax regulations in the jurisdiction in which the item was incurred. Constant currency
Cognizant
December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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revenue growth is defined as revenues for a given period restated at the comparative period’s foreign currency exchange rates measured against the comparative period's reported revenues. Free cash flow is defined as cash flows from operating activities plus proceeds from sale of property and equipment, net of purchases of property and equipment.
We believe providing investors with an operating view consistent with how we manage the Company provides enhanced transparency into our operating results. For internal management reporting and budgeting purposes, we use various GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision-making, to evaluate period-to-period comparisons, to determine portions of the compensation for executive officers and for making comparisons of our operating results to those of our competitors. We believe that the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures, which exclude certain costs, read in conjunction with our reported GAAP results and reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measure, as applicable, can provide useful supplemental information to our management and investors regarding financial and business trends relating to our financial condition and results of operations.
A limitation of using non-GAAP financial measures versus financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP is that non-GAAP financial measures may exclude costs that are recurring such as net non-operating foreign currency exchange gains or losses. In addition, other companies may calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently than us, thereby limiting the usefulness of these non-GAAP financial measures as a comparative tool. We compensate for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from non-GAAP financial measures to allow investors to evaluate such non-GAAP financial measures.
The following table presents a reconciliation of each non-GAAP financial measure to the most comparable GAAP measure, as applicable, for the years ended December 31:
(Dollars in millions, except per share data)
Revenues
Revenues
GAAP income from operations and operating margin
(Gain) on sale of property and equipment (1)
NextGen charges (2)
Adjusted Income From Operations and Adjusted Operating Margin
GAAP diluted EPS
Effect of above adjustments, pre-tax
Effect of non-operating foreign currency exchange (gains) losses, pre-tax (3)
Tax effect of above adjustments (4)
One-time income tax expense related to the enactment of the OBBBA (5)
Adjusted Diluted EPS
Net cash provided by operating activities
Purchases of property and equipment
Proceeds from sale of property and equipment
Free cash flow
(1) During 2025, we realized a gain of $62 million on the sale of an office complex in India. S e e Note 5 to our consolidated financial statements for additional information.
(2) Consists of employee separation, facility exit and other costs incurred in connection with the NextGen program. See Note 4 to our consolidated financial statements for additional information.
(3) Non-operating foreign currency exchange gains and losses, inclusive of gains and losses on related foreign exchange forward contracts not designated as hedging instruments for accounting purposes, are reported in "Foreign currency exchange gains (losses), net" in our consolidated statements of operations.
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December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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(4) Presented below are the tax impacts of our non-GAAP adjustments to pre-tax income for the years ended December 31:
(in millions)
Non-GAAP income tax benefit (expense) related to:
Gain on sale of property and equipment
NextGen charges
Foreign currency exchange gains and losses
The effective tax rate related to non-operating foreign currency exchange gains and losses varies depending on the jurisdictions in which such income and expenses are generated and the statutory rates applicable in those jurisdictions. As such, the income tax effect of non-operating foreign currency exchange gains and losses shown in the above table may not appear proportionate to the net pre-tax foreign currency exchange gains and losses reported in our consolidated statements of operations.
(5) In the third quarter of 2025, we recorded a one-time, non-cash income tax expense of $390 million related to the enactment of the OBBBA. See Note 10 to our consolidated financial statements for additional information.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Cash generated from operations has historically been our primary source of liquidity to fund operations and investments t o grow our business. As of December 31, 2025, we had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investme nts of $1,914 million and restricted cash of $733 million (see Note 18 to our consolidated financial statements). Additionally, as of December 31, 2025, we had available capacity under our credit facilities of approximately $1.85 billion.
The following table provides a summary of our cash flows for the years ended December 31:
(in millions)
Increase / Decrease
Net cash provided by (used in):
Operating activities
Investing activities
Financing activities
Other Cash Flow Information 5
Free cash flow
Operating activities 5
The increase in cash provided by operating activities in 2025 compared to 2024 was primarily driven by the increase in net income, excluding the one-time, non-cash income tax expense of $390 million we recorded as a result of the enactment of the OBBBA, as well as the $360 million payment we made in January 2024 in relation to our dispute with the ITD (see Note 10 to our consolidated financial statements), which reduced cash from operating activities in 2024.
We monitor turnover, aging and the collection of accounts receivable by client. Our DSO calculation includes receivables, net of allowance for doubtful accounts, and contract assets, reduced by the uncollected portion of deferred revenue. Our DSO was 81 days as of December 31, 2025, 78 days as of December 31, 2024 and 77 days as of December 31, 2023.
Investing activities
The decrease in cash used in investing activities in 2025 compared to 2024 was driven by payments for business acquisitions in 2024 and the proceeds from the sale of an office complex in India in 2025, partially offset by net maturities of investments in 2024.
Financing activities
The increase in cash used in financing activities in 2025 compared to 2024 was primarily driven by increased repurchases of common stock during 2025 and the borrowing under the revolving credit facility to finance the acquisition of Belcan in 2024.
5 Free cash flow is not a measure of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information.
Cognizant
December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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We have a Credit Agreement providing for a $650 million Term Loan and a $1,850 million unsecured revolving credit facility, which are each due to mature in October 2027. During the year ended December 31, 2025, we repaid the $300 million balance that was outstanding under the revolving credit facility, and had no outstanding balance as of December 31, 2025. We are required under the Credit Agreement to make scheduled quarterly principal payments on the Term Loan. We believe that we currently meet all conditions set forth in the Credit Agreement to borrow thereunder, and we are not aware of any conditions that would prevent us from borrowing part or all of the remaining available capacity under the revolving credit facility as of December 31, 2025 and through the date of this filing. See Note 9 to our consolidated financial statements.
Capital Allocation Framework
Acquisitions
Share repurchases
Dividend payments
Our capital allocation framework anticipates the deployment of approximately 50% of our free cash flow 6 for acquisitions and 50% for share repurchases and dividend payments. We review our capital allocation on an ongoing basis, considering our financial performance and liquidity position, investments required to execute our strategic plans and initiatives, acquisition opportunities, the economic outlook, regulatory changes and other relevant factors. As these factors may change over time, the actual amounts expended on stock repurchase activity, dividends, and acquisitions, if any, during any particular period cannot be predicted and may fluctuate from time to time.
Other Liquidity and Capital Resources Information
We seek to ensure that our cash is available in the locations in which it is needed. As part of our ongoing liquidity assessments, we regularly monitor the mix of our domestic and international cash flows and cash balances. We evaluate on an ongoing basis what portion of the non-U.S. cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments is needed locally to execute our strategic plans and what amount is available for repatriation back to the United States .
We expect operating cash flows, cash and short-term investment balances, together with the available capacity under our revolving credit facilities, to be sufficient to meet our operating requirements, including purchase commitments, tax payments and servicing our debt for the next twelve months. Additionally, we have purchase commitments of approximately $2.3 billion that will be paid over the next five years, of which approximately $800 million will be paid during the next twelve months. In addition, see Note 6 to our consolidated financial statements for a description of our operating lease obligations.
The ability to expand and grow our business in accordance with current plans, make acquisitions, meet long-term capital requirements beyond a twelve-month period and execute our capital return plan will depend on many factors, including the rate, if any, at which cash flow increases, our ability and willingness to pay for acquisitions with capital stock and the availability of public and private debt, including the ability to extend the maturity of or refinance our existing debt, and equity financing. We cannot be certain that additional financing, if required, will be available on terms and conditions acceptable to us, if at all.
Critical Accounting Estimates
Management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based on our accompanying consolidated financial statements that have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. We base our estimates on historical experience, current trends and on various other assumptions that are believed to be relevant at the time our consolidated financial statements are prepared. We evaluate our estimates on a continuous basis. However, the actual amounts may differ from the estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.
We believe the following accounting estimates are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our consolidated financial statements as they require the most difficult, subjective or complex judgments, resulting from the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain. Changes to these estimates could have a material effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements.
6 Free cash flow is not a measure of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information.
Cognizant
December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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Revenue Recognition . Revenues related to fixed-price contracts for application development and systems integration services, consulting or other technology services are recognized as the service is performed using the cost-to-cost method, under which the total value of revenues is recognized on the basis of the percentage that each contract’s total labor cost to-date bears to the total expected labor costs. Revenues related to fixed-price application maintenance, quality engineering and assurance and business process services are recognized using the cost-to-cost method, if the right to invoice is not representative of the value being delivered. The cost-to-cost method requires estimation of future costs, which is updated as the project progresses to reflect the latest available information. Such estimates and changes in estimates involve the use of judgment. The cumulative impact of any change in estimates is reflected in the financial reporting period in which the change in estimate becomes known. Net changes in estimates of such future costs were immaterial to the consolidated results of operations for the periods presented.
Income Taxes. Determining the consolidated provision for income taxes, deferred income tax assets (and related valuation allowance, if any) and liabilities requires significant judgment. We are required to calculate and provide for income taxes in each of the jurisdictions where we operate. Changes in the geographic mix of income before taxes or estimated level of annual pre-tax income can affect our overall effective income tax rate. In addition, transactions between our affiliated entities are arranged in accordance with applicable transfer pricing laws, regulations and relevant guidelines. As a result, and due to the interpretive nature of certain aspects of these laws and guidelines, we have pending applications for APAs before the taxing authorities in some of our most significant jurisdictions. It could take years for the relevant taxing authorities to negotiate and conclude these applications. The consolidated provision for income taxes may change period to period based on changes in facts and circumstances, such as settlements of income tax audits, the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations or finalization of our applications for APAs.
Our provision for income taxes also includes the impact of reserves established for uncertain income tax positions, as well as the related interest, which may require us to apply judgment to complex issues and may require an extended period of time to resolve. We apply a “more likely than not” threshold when assessing the need for a reserve for an uncertain tax position, which involves significant judgment. Although we believe we have adequately reserved for our uncertain tax positions, no assurance can be given that the final outcome of these matters will not differ from our recorded amounts. We adjust these reserves in light of changing facts and circumstances, such as the closing of a tax audit or the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations. Additionally, we have tax positions that we believe are more likely than not to be realized and for which we have therefore not established a reserve. To the extent that the final outcome of these matters differs from the amounts recorded, such differences may materially impact, positively or negatively, the provision for income taxes in the period in which such determination is made.
Business Combinations, Goodwill and Intangible Assets . Goodwill and intangible assets, including indefinite-lived intangible assets, arise from the accounting for business combinations. We account for business combinations using the acquisition method which requires us to estimate the fair value of identifiable assets acquired, liabilities assumed, including any contingent consideration, and any noncontrolling interest in the acquiree to properly allocate purchase price to the individual assets acquired and liabilities assumed. The allocation of the purchase price utilizes estimates and assumptions in determining the fair values of identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed, especially with respect to intangible assets, including the timing and amount of forecasted revenues and cash flows, anticipated growth rates, client attrition rates and the discount rate reflecting the risk inherent in future cash flows.
At each acquisition date, we allocate goodwill and intangible assets to our reporting units based on how we expect each reporting unit to benefit from the respective business combination. A reporting unit is defined as an operating segment or one level below an operating segment. While we manage the business through our four industry-based operating segments, we have identified seven industry-based reporting units for purposes of goodwill allocation and impairment testing. We exercise judgment to allocate goodwill to the reporting units expected to benefit from each business combination. Goodwill is tested for impairment at the reporting unit level on an annual basis and between annual tests if an event occurs or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying value. Such events or circumstances may include significant changes in the business climate, the regulatory environment, business strategies, operating performance, or the competitive landscape. Evaluating goodwill for impairment requires judgment, including the identification of reporting units, assignment of assets, liabilities and goodwill to reporting units and determination of the fair value of each reporting unit.
We estimate the fair value of our reporting units using a combination of an income approach, utilizing a discounted cash flow analysis, and a market approach, using market multiples. Under the income approach, we estimate projected future cash flows, the timing of such cash flows and long-term growth rates and determine the appropriate discount rate that reflects the risk inherent in the projected future cash flows. The discount rate used is based on a market participant weighted-average cost of capital and may be adjusted for the relevant risk associated with business-specific characteristics and the uncertainty related to the reporting unit’s ability to execute on the projected future cash flows. Under the market approach, we estimate fair value based on market multiples of revenues and earnings derived from comparable publicly-traded companies with characteristics
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December 31, 2025 Form 10-K
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similar to the reporting unit. The estimates used to calculate the fair value of a reporting unit change from year to year based on operating results, market conditions and other factors. Changes in these estimates and assumptions could materially affect the determination of fair value for each reporting unit.
Based on our most recent evaluation of goodwill performed during the fourth quarter of 2025, we concluded that the goodwill in each of our reporting units was not at risk of impairment. As of December 31, 2025, our goodwill balance was $7,106 million.
We review our finite-lived assets, including our finite-lived intangible assets, for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of an asset group may not be recoverable. The carrying amount may not be recoverable when the sum of undiscounted expected future cash flows is less than the carrying amount of such asset groups. The impairment loss is determined as the amount by which the carrying amount of the asset group exceeds its fair value. Assessing the fair value of asset groups involves significant estimates and assumptions including estimation of future cash flows, the timing of such cash flows and discount rates reflecting the risk inherent in future cash flows.
Recently Adopted and New Accounting Pronouncements
See Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements for additional information.
