Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, on Wednesday, boosted its full-year forecast, after posting 11.2 per cent growth in net profit in the third quarter.
The New Jersey-based IT major posted a net income of $355.6 million, or 58 cents per share, in the third quarter ended September 30, 2014, against $319.6 million, or 53 cents per share a year earlier. After providing for stock-based compensation and other items, adjusted earnings increased to 66 cents a share from 59 cents a share.
Revenue rose by 11.9 per cent to $2.58 billion during the quarter.
“Our overall demand environment remains strong, and our results this quarter highlight that we are competing, winning and executing transformational engagements for clients in various industry segments globally,” Cognizant President Gordon Coburn said in a statement.
The company has also given a strong guidance for the fourth quarter and increased its full year forecast, excluding the impact of TriZetto acquistion. It expects fourth quarter revenue to be between $2.61 billion and $2.64 billion, a 2.32 per cent increase sequentially. It expects fourth quarter adjusted earnings to be at least $0.63 a share.
Cognizant now expects its full year 2014 adjusted earnings to be at least $2.57 a share, which is above the $2.54 a share it forecast in August. Full-year 2014 revenue is expected in the range of $10.1310.16 billion, which translates into 15 per cent growth.
The raised guidance comes after Cognizant in August cut its revenue guidance to 14 per cent growth from 16 per cent for the year, citing weakness at some of its clients and a longer-than-expected sales cycle for large deals.
Cognizant’s net employee addition for the quarter was about 12,300.
“There is a tremendous opportunity in the marketplace as the advent of new digital technologies, global economic pressures, and an evolving regulatory environment force businesses across all industries to change and adapt faster than ever before,” CEO Francisco D’Souza said in the statement.
“Cognizant is ideally positioned to help clients worldwide address these competitive challenges with end-to-end solutions that address their dual mandate of improved efficiency and of innovation using the latest social, mobile, analytics, cloud and sensor technologies,” he added.
