Teaneck-headquartered IT services firm Cognizant on October 29 reported third-quarter revenue of $5.66 billion, up 4.6 percent year-on-year, or 4.8 percent in constant currency, beating Wall Street estimates amid double-digit growth in its financial services business.

Analysts had forecast revenue of $5.65 billion, representing year-on-year growth of 4.4 percent. Cognizant exceeded the estimate by approximately $14 million.

Revenue also came in above the midpoint of the company's guidance range for the quarter.

Operating margin stood at 15.4 percent, down 60 basis points year-on-year, while adjusted operating margin expanded 30 basis points to 16.3 percent.

Despite beating Wall Street revenue estimates for the September quarter, Cognizant shares fell 8.65 percent in pre-market trading on the Nasdaq to $60.62, as the company reported a 7 percent decline in quarterly bookings and lowered the upper end of its full-year constant currency revenue growth guidance.

The company's GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) increased 148 percent year-on-year to $1.39, compared with $0.56 in the corresponding quarter last year. Adjusted EPS rose 7.2 percent to $1.49.

Cognizant reported a 7 percent year-on-year decline in bookings during the September quarter, even as trailing 12-month bookings increased 4 percent to $28.7 billion.

The company signed three large deals during the quarter, each with a total contract value of at least $100 million. Its trailing 12-month book-to-bill ratio stood at approximately 1.3 times.

Cognizant added 3,200 employees during the quarter, taking its total workforce to 359,900 as of September 30, 2026.

The company's headcount increased by 10,100 employees compared with the year-ago period.

Voluntary attrition in technology services declined to 12.6 percent from 13 percent in the preceding quarter.

Cognizant revised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance between 4 percent to 4.4 percent in constant currency.

The revised FY26 constant currency revenue guidance narrows the previous range of 4.0 to 5.5 percent, cutting the upper end by 110 basis points.

For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenue between $5.49 billion and $5.57 billion, representing constant currency growth of 3.2 percent to 4.7 percent.