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Cognizant (CTSH) Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Down Y/Y
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Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH - Free Report) reported non-GAAP earnings of $1.17 per share in second-quarter 2024, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.46% and increased 6.4% year over year.
Revenues of $4.85 billion beat the consensus mark by 0.91%. The top line dropped 0.7% year over year and 0.5% at constant currency (cc). Acquisitions contributed 60 basis points (bps) to top-line growth.
On a trailing twelve-month basis, bookings increased 5% year over year to $26.2 billion, which represented a book-to-bill of approximately 1.4 times. Five deals, each more than $100 million in TCV, were signed, along with two deals over $90 million each.
Top-Line Details
Financial services revenues (29.9% of revenues) dropped 1.1% year over year (down 0.8% at cc) to $1.447 billion. A challenging demand environment caused the downside.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Health Sciences revenues (30.1% of revenues) increased 1.5% year over year (up 1.7% at cc) to $1.461 billion. The uptick can be attributed to the strong demand in data and cloud mordernization.
Products and Resources revenues (23.2% of revenues) fell 4.3% year over year (down 4.1% at cc) to $1.12 billion.
Communications, Media and Technology revenues (16.8% of revenues) were $816 million, which increased 1.2% from the year-ago quarter (up 1.4% at cc). The segment benefited from new acquisitions and the ramp of new bookings.
Region-wise, revenues from North America increased 0.9% year over year (up 0.9% at cc) and contributed 74.6% to total revenues.
Revenues from Europe fell 5.5% year over year (down 5.2% at cc) and contributed 18.9% to total revenues. Revenues from the U.K. declined 6.1% (down 6.5% at cc). Continental Europe revenues decreased 4.9% (down 4% at cc).
The Rest of the World revenues decreased 4.2% year over year (down 2% at cc) and contributed 6.5% to total revenues.
Operating Details
Selling, general & administrative expenses, as a percentage of revenues, contracted 90 bps year over year to 16.1%.
Total headcount at the end of the second quarter was 336,300 compared with 344,400 in the previous quarter.
Voluntary attrition - Tech Services on a trailing-12-month basis declined to 13.6% down from 19.9% for the period ended Jun 30, 2023.
Cognizant reported a GAAP operating margin of 14.6%, expanding 280 bps on a year-over-year basis.
The company incurred $29 million in costs related to the NextGen program, negatively impacting the GAAP operating margin by 60 bps.
Non-GAAP operating margin (adjusted for NextGen charges) of 15.2% expanded 100 bps year over year.
Balance Sheet
CTSH had cash and short-term investments of $2.2 billion as of Jun 30, 2024, compared with $2.24 billion as of Mar 31, 2024.
As of Jun 30, 2024, the company had a total debt of $623 million, down from $631 million reported as of Mar 31, 2024.
It generated $262 million in cash from operations compared with $95 million in the previous quarter.
Free cash flow was $183 million compared with free cash flow of $659 million reported in the prior quarter.
In the second quarter of 2024, the company returned $226 million through share repurchases.
Guidance
Cognizant expects third-quarter 2024 revenues to be between $4.89 billion and $4.96 billion, indicating a decline of 0.2% to an increase of 1.3% (an increase of 1.5% on a cc basis).
In the Financial Services segment, Cognizant continues to expect the challenging macro environment to hurt spending rates, thereby negatively impacting top-line growth.
For 2024, revenues are expected to be $19.3-$19.5 billion, indicating a decline of 0.5% to growth of 1% on a reported basis and a cc basis. Acquisitions are expected to contribute 70 bps.
Adjusted operating margin for 2024 is expected to be between 15.3% and 15.5%. Adjusted earnings for 2024 are expected between $4.62 and $4.70 per share.
Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider
The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
CTSH’s shares have underperformed the Zacks Computer & Technology sector year to date. The stock has moved up 0.2%, while the broader sector has appreciated 16.5%.
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Cognizant (CTSH) Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Down Y/Y
Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH - Free Report) reported non-GAAP earnings of $1.17 per share in second-quarter 2024, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.46% and increased 6.4% year over year.
Revenues of $4.85 billion beat the consensus mark by 0.91%. The top line dropped 0.7% year over year and 0.5% at constant currency (cc). Acquisitions contributed 60 basis points (bps) to top-line growth.
On a trailing twelve-month basis, bookings increased 5% year over year to $26.2 billion, which represented a book-to-bill of approximately 1.4 times. Five deals, each more than $100 million in TCV, were signed, along with two deals over $90 million each.
Top-Line Details
Financial services revenues (29.9% of revenues) dropped 1.1% year over year (down 0.8% at cc) to $1.447 billion. A challenging demand environment caused the downside.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation Quote
Health Sciences revenues (30.1% of revenues) increased 1.5% year over year (up 1.7% at cc) to $1.461 billion. The uptick can be attributed to the strong demand in data and cloud mordernization.
Products and Resources revenues (23.2% of revenues) fell 4.3% year over year (down 4.1% at cc) to $1.12 billion.
Communications, Media and Technology revenues (16.8% of revenues) were $816 million, which increased 1.2% from the year-ago quarter (up 1.4% at cc). The segment benefited from new acquisitions and the ramp of new bookings.
Region-wise, revenues from North America increased 0.9% year over year (up 0.9% at cc) and contributed 74.6% to total revenues.
Revenues from Europe fell 5.5% year over year (down 5.2% at cc) and contributed 18.9% to total revenues. Revenues from the U.K. declined 6.1% (down 6.5% at cc). Continental Europe revenues decreased 4.9% (down 4% at cc).
The Rest of the World revenues decreased 4.2% year over year (down 2% at cc) and contributed 6.5% to total revenues.
Operating Details
Selling, general & administrative expenses, as a percentage of revenues, contracted 90 bps year over year to 16.1%.
Total headcount at the end of the second quarter was 336,300 compared with 344,400 in the previous quarter.
Voluntary attrition - Tech Services on a trailing-12-month basis declined to 13.6% down from 19.9% for the period ended Jun 30, 2023.
Cognizant reported a GAAP operating margin of 14.6%, expanding 280 bps on a year-over-year basis.
The company incurred $29 million in costs related to the NextGen program, negatively impacting the GAAP operating margin by 60 bps.
Non-GAAP operating margin (adjusted for NextGen charges) of 15.2% expanded 100 bps year over year.
Balance Sheet
CTSH had cash and short-term investments of $2.2 billion as of Jun 30, 2024, compared with $2.24 billion as of Mar 31, 2024.
As of Jun 30, 2024, the company had a total debt of $623 million, down from $631 million reported as of Mar 31, 2024.
It generated $262 million in cash from operations compared with $95 million in the previous quarter.
Free cash flow was $183 million compared with free cash flow of $659 million reported in the prior quarter.
In the second quarter of 2024, the company returned $226 million through share repurchases.
Guidance
Cognizant expects third-quarter 2024 revenues to be between $4.89 billion and $4.96 billion, indicating a decline of 0.2% to an increase of 1.3% (an increase of 1.5% on a cc basis).
In the Financial Services segment, Cognizant continues to expect the challenging macro environment to hurt spending rates, thereby negatively impacting top-line growth.
For 2024, revenues are expected to be $19.3-$19.5 billion, indicating a decline of 0.5% to growth of 1% on a reported basis and a cc basis. Acquisitions are expected to contribute 70 bps.
Adjusted operating margin for 2024 is expected to be between 15.3% and 15.5%. Adjusted earnings for 2024 are expected between $4.62 and $4.70 per share.
Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider
The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
CTSH’s shares have underperformed the Zacks Computer & Technology sector year to date. The stock has moved up 0.2%, while the broader sector has appreciated 16.5%.
Shopify (SHOP - Free Report) , Analog Devices (ADI - Free Report) and DigitalOcean (DOCN - Free Report) are some better-ranked stocks that investors can consider in the broader sector. DigitalOcean sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present, while Analog Devices and Shopify carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Shopify’s shares have declined 21.2% year to date. SHOP is set to report its second-quarter 2024 results on Aug 7.
Analog Devices shares have increased 16.5% year to date. ADI is set to report third-quarter fiscal 2024 results on Aug 21.
DigitalOcean’s shares have moved down 9.7% year to date. DOCN is set to report second-quarter 2024 results on Aug 8.