Cognizant forecasts weak quarterly revenue amid cautious client spending

Cognizant Technology forecast quarterly revenue below Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, as clients remained cautious on discretionary IT spending.

Shares of the company were down 3% ‌in ⁠premarket ⁠trading.

* Cognizant expects third-quarter revenue between $5.60 billion ​and $5.68 billion, below analysts' average estimate of $5.70 ​billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.


* The company is ​navigating a complex ⁠macro environment, with ‌clients cautious on large ​investments ​and continued softness in smaller ⁠discretionary projects.

* Enterprises are also prioritizing investment in data center infrastructure over software as AI adoption accelerates.

* Cognizant now expects annual revenue between $22.04 billion and $22.35 billion, compared with its prior expectations of $22.11 ‌billion to $22.64 billion.

* For the second quarter, the ​company reported ​revenue of $5.48 ⁠billion, in line with estimates and up 4.5% from a year earlier.

* Cognizant ​has been expanding capabilities to help clients modernize legacy platforms and deploy GenAI at scale.