Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Cognizant published the results on October 29, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Cognizant reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and Adjusted Diluted EPS, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Cognizant's release gives Q3 2026 segment revenue and the year-over-year dollar change. The year-ago segment figures here are the Q3 2026 figures less the change in the 10-Q, and they match the Q3 2025 figures in Cognizant's earnings supplement where it prints them.
• Q3 2025 GAAP diluted EPS of $0.56 included a one-time, non-cash income tax charge of $0.80 per share ($390 million) related to the enactment of the OBBBA in the United States.

Source: Cognizant Q3 2026 results, October 29, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Cognizant splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Cognizant's Health Sciences revenue was $1.6 billion in Q3 2026, down 1% from $1.6 billion in Q3 2025, 28% of total revenue.
• Cognizant's Financial Services revenue was $1.8 billion in Q3 2026, up 12% from $1.6 billion in Q3 2025, 31% of total revenue.
• Cognizant's Products and Resources revenue was $1.4 billion in Q3 2026, down 1% from $1.4 billion in Q3 2025, 24% of total revenue.
• Cognizant's Communications, Media and Technology revenue was $939 million in Q3 2026, up 10% from $850 million in Q3 2025, 17% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q3 2026 release, Cognizant said:

“Fourth quarter revenue is expected to be $5.49 to $5.57 billion, growth of 3.0% to 4.5%, or 3.2% to 4.7% in constant currency.”

“Full-year 2026 revenue is expected to be $22.05 to $22.14 billion, growth of 4.5% to 4.9%, or 4.0% to 4.4% in constant currency.”

Source: Cognizant Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Oct 29, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the CTSH forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

Revenue and GAAP diluted EPS, each as first reported in that quarter's earnings release.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Cognizant's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Oct 29, 2026

Cognizant reports four industry segments. In Q3 2026 Financial Services was the largest at $1,767 million, 31.2% of the $5,664 million total, followed by Health Sciences ($1,587 million, 28.0%), Products and Resources ($1,371 million, 24.2%) and Communications, Media and Technology ($939 million, 16.6%). Its services include consulting, application development, systems integration, engineering, application maintenance, infrastructure and security, and business process services. (Cognizant Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026; Cognizant Form 10-K, 2025, Feb 12, 2026)

Revenue rose $249 million, or 4.6% (4.8% in constant currency). Financial Services grew $189 million, or 12.0%, led by banking clients, and Communications, Media and Technology grew $89 million, or 10.5%, on technology clients. Health Sciences fell $17 million (1.1%) and Products and Resources fell $12 million (0.9%), with weakness among healthcare, retail, consumer goods, travel and hospitality clients. (Cognizant Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 29, 2026)

Cognizant's recent acquisitions of 3Cloud and Astreya added about 210 basis points to growth, including 875 basis points in Communications, Media and Technology. Sales of third-party products under its integrated offerings strategy added about 190 basis points. Cognizant acquired Astreya, an IT managed services provider, on June 22, 2026; the purchase prices of the two deals totaled $1,398 million. (Cognizant Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026; Cognizant Q3 2026 earnings supplement, Oct 29, 2026; Cognizant Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 29, 2026)

North America generated $4,258 million, 75.2% of revenue, and grew 5.7%. The United Kingdom was $532 million (up 5.8%), Continental Europe $525 million (down 2.6%) and Rest of World $349 million. (Cognizant Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Cognizant's GAAP diluted EPS rose to $1.39 in Q3 2026 from $0.56, mostly because Q3 2025 carried a one-time, non-cash income tax expense of $390 million, or $0.80 per share, after the OBBBA was enacted. That charge put the year-ago effective income tax rate at 69.1%, against 27.5% in Q3 2026. (Cognizant Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026; Cognizant Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 29, 2026)

Adjusted Diluted EPS was $1.49, up 7.2%. The main adjustment in Q3 2026 was $51 million of Project Leap charges ($0.11 per share before tax), of which $46 million was employee separation costs. Cognizant now expects Project Leap to cost $180 million to $250 million in total and to generate in-year savings of about $200 million in 2026. (Cognizant Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Buybacks lowered Cognizant's diluted share count to 450 million from 487 million a year earlier. It repurchased 4.9 million shares for $258 million in the quarter, had $2.1 billion left under its authorization, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33 per share. (Cognizant Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Cognizant guides one quarter and the full year in its release. For Q4 2026 it expects revenue of $5.49 to $5.57 billion, growth of 3.0% to 4.5%. For full year 2026 it expects revenue of $22.05 to $22.14 billion (4.0% to 4.4% in constant currency, revised), Adjusted Operating Margin of about 16.1% and Adjusted Diluted EPS of $5.72 to $5.79. (Cognizant Q3 2026 release, Oct 29, 2026)

Cognizant's earnings supplement adds that the Q4 2026 guide includes about 200 bps of inorganic contribution, and that the full-year guide assumes an adjusted effective tax rate of about 25% and a share count of 460M. (Cognizant Q3 2026 earnings supplement, Oct 29, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Cognizant, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Cognizant's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning CTSH is on is CTSH a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the CTSH forecast, and what the company does is on the Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Cognizant published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.