Cognizant Technology Solutions CTSH is scheduled to report its first-quarter 2026 results on April 29, 2026.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter 2026 earnings is pegged at $1.33 per share, decreased by a penny over the past 30 days. This represents an 8.13% increase from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter.
Cognizant expects first-quarter 2026 revenues between $5.36 billion and $5.44 billion, indicating growth of 4.8%-6.3% and an increase of 2.7%-4.2% on a cc basis.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter revenues is pegged at $5.41 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 5.81%.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation Price and EPS Surprise
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation price-eps-surprise | Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation Quote
Cognizant’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 4.34%.
Let’s see how things have shaped up for the upcoming announcement.
Factors to Note
Cognizant’s first-quarter 2026 performance is likely to have benefited from an expanding client base and a robust pipeline, including a favorable mix of new opportunities. On a trailing 12-month basis, bookings increased 5% year over year to $28.4 billion, which represented a book-to-bill of approximately 1.3 times. Bookings in the fourth quarter increased 9% year over year. Fourth-quarter bookings included 12 large deals, with a total contract value of more than $100 million, of which two were mega deals, or deals with a total contract value of more than $500 million.These deals are expected to have contributed to revenue growth in the to-be-reported quarter.
The growing demand for GenAI solutions across industries like financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing is expected to provide continued growth opportunities in the first quarter of 2026, particularly in areas like fraud detection, medical imaging, and predictive maintenance. Cognizant had more than 4,000 early Generative AI client engagements in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The recently completed acquisition of 3Cloud is another key factor expected to benefit CTSH in the first quarter. This acquisition adds over 1,200 Azure specialists and engineers, strengthening CTSH’s capabilities in Azure, data, AI, and application innovation. The integration of 3Cloud is expected to have contributed approximately 100 basis points to the first quarter of 2026 revenue growth, further supporting the company’s inorganic growth strategy and expanding its expertise in cloud and AI services.
CTSH’s NextGen initiative is expected to have played a pivotal role in enhancing operational efficiency in the to-be-reported quarter.
However, CTSH is suffering from weak demand in the products and resources segment, which was due to tariff policy concerns and spending pressures. Macroeconomic uncertainties, muted discretionary spending, and ongoing cost optimization pressures across some sectors remain a concern.
What Our Model Says
Per the Zacks model, the combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy), or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that is not the case here.
Cognizant has an Earnings ESP of -0.99% and a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Stocks to Consider
Here are some companies worth considering, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings in their upcoming releases:
Sandisk SNDK has an Earnings ESP of +4.96% and a Zacks Rank #1 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Sandisk is set to report third-quarter fiscal 2026 results on April 30. Sandisk shares have increased 317.1% in the year-to-date period.
Audioeye AEYE has an Earnings ESP of +9.62% and a Zacks Rank #2 at present. Audioeye is likely to report its first-quarter 2026 results on May 13. Audioeye shares have decreased 27.4% in the year-to-date period.
Extreme Networks EXTR has an Earnings ESP of +1.41% and a Zacks Rank #2. Extreme Networks is set to report its third-quarter 2026 results on April 29. Extreme Networks' shares have increased 5.7% in the year-to-date period.
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Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation (CTSH): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).