Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - Revenue for Q3 2025 grew 6.5% year over year in constant currency to $5.4 billion, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year organic revenue growth [5][24] - Adjusted operating margin improved by 70 basis points year over year, driven by disciplined expense management and an increasingly AI-enabled delivery model [8][28] - Adjusted EPS grew approximately 11% year over year, reaching $1.39, excluding a one-time non-cash income tax expense [30][33] - Free cash flow for Q3 was $1.2 billion, representing 170% of adjusted net income, compared to $791 million a year ago [30] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - All four operating segments experienced organic revenue growth year over year, with financial services leading due to healthy discretionary spending trends [25][26] - The digital engineering business grew about 8% organically year to date, while the cloud and infrastructure modernization business grew 10% year over year [13][14] - BPO revenue grew 10% in the last two quarters and is on track to reach $3 billion in annualized revenue [20] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - North America contributed significantly to revenue growth, with nearly 8% year-over-year growth in constant currency [26] - Demand trends in Europe and the rest of the world remained stable but were affected by recent tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty [26] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The company is evolving into an AI builder, focusing on scaling agentic AI across enterprises and enhancing productivity through AI-led initiatives [9][21] - Cognizant's strategy includes three vectors: AI-led productivity, industrializing AI, and agentifying the enterprise, which are forming a flywheel of new value creation [10][18] - The company is investing in platforms, intellectual property, and partnerships to support its AI builder strategy and long-term growth [23][60] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management noted a complex demand environment with clients navigating uncertainty around trade policy, but also highlighted a growing pipeline of modernization projects [24][25] - The company expects to meet or exceed the high end of its revenue guidance for the year, with a forecasted revenue growth of 6%-6.3% in constant currency [32][33] - Management expressed confidence in the financial services sector, indicating a shift from cost takeout to innovation-led spending [82] Other Important Information - The company signed six large deals in Q3, each with a total contract value of $100 million or more, bringing the year-to-date total to 16 [6] - Cognizant's workforce is being upskilled in AI-related skills, with over 250,000 employees trained [53] Q&A Session Summary Question: Insights on new business pipeline for smaller deals - Management noted a healthy pipeline for discretionary small projects, particularly in financial services and healthcare, driven by AI-led spending [40] Question: Sustainability of revenue per employee increase - Revenue per employee rose 8%, and margin per employee grew 10%, indicating a shift towards fixed-price managed services and AI-led productivity [42][44] Question: Tracking success of employee upskilling in AI - The company is pioneering AI-related skill development, with significant training initiatives and a focus on embedding AI in software development processes [49][51] Question: Impact of large deal signings on revenue and margins in 2026 - Management expects large and mega deals to continue positively impacting revenue and margins, with a focus on both productivity and innovation-led spending [56][72] Question: Partnership strategy and its importance - The company is broadening its partnership strategy to include both traditional SaaS companies and frontier model companies like OpenAI and Anthropic [58][60] Question: Financial services vertical spending trends - Improved spending in financial services is transitioning from cost savings to innovation, with significant AI-led projects being implemented [81][82] Question: Outlook for the healthcare vertical - The healthcare vertical is expected to grow, particularly through the BPaaS offering, which is seeing increased demand due to AI-led instrumentation [85]

Cognizant Technology Solutions (NasdaqGS:CTSH) Q3 2025 Earnings Call October 29, 2025 08:30 AM ET Speaker2Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Cognizant Technology Solutions third quarter 2025 earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the q ...