COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORP (CTSH)

Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Executive Summary

Cognizant is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, engineering modern businesses and delivering strategic outcomes for our clients. We help clients modernize technology, reimagine processes and transform experiences so they can stay ahead in today's fast-changing world, where AI is reshaping organizations in every field. As an AI builder, we provide deep expertise at the intersection of industry and technology, combining our perspective with extensive knowledge of our clients' organizations to build industry-specific platforms and incorporate context into systems, AI models and custom solutions. We tailor our services and solutions to specific industries with an integrated global delivery model that employs client service and delivery teams based at client locations and dedicated global and regional delivery centers. Our services include consulting, application development, systems integration, quality engineering and assurance, engineering research and development, application maintenance, infrastructure and security as well as business process services and automation.

In the second quarter of 2026, we initiated Project Leap, a program designed to accelerate our transformation to the operating model of the future by funding investments in our integrated offerings, AI capabilities and partnerships, reshaping productivity through competitive offerings and upskilling our workforce. By fostering a workforce that is properly sized, AI-enabled and possesses the skills required for success as well as optimizing our technology footprint, we aim to streamline operations and enhance productivity through AI-led efficiencies, creating a more agile and cost-effective operating model.

In connection with Project Leap, in the second quarter of 2026 we incurred $84 million of employee separation and other costs. See Note 4 to our unaudited consolidated financial statements. We expect to record total costs of $230 million to $320 million, with substantially all of the costs expected to be incurred in 2026. Cash payments related to the costs are expected to be made primarily over the same period. This consists of $200 million to $270 million of employee severance and other personnel related costs and $30 million to $50 million of other charges. This program is expected to generate in-year savings of approximately $200 million to $300 million in 2026, which will be used primarily to fund investments as described above. The estimates of the charges and expenditures that we expect to incur in connection with Project Leap, the timing thereof, and the savings expected to be generated are subject to a number of assumptions, including local law requirements in various jurisdictions, and actual amounts may differ materially from estimates. In addition, we may incur other charges or cash expenditures not currently contemplated due to unanticipated events that may occur in connection with Project Leap.

As disclosed in Note 11 to our unaudited consolidated financial statements, management concluded that the portion of the India Defined Contribution Obligation liability recorded in 2019 that relates to periods where no proceedings had been initiated by the government is no longer required. Thus, in the second quarter of 2026, we recorded a benefit of $81 million in "Selling, general and administrative expenses" in our unaudited consolidated statement of operations.

During the second quarter of 2026, we repurchased $1,153 million of our Class A common stock under our stock repurchase program: $653 million through open market purchases and $500 million through ASR agreements. Additionally, we completed our acquisition of Astreya for a purchase price of $634 million, including contingent consideration of $25 million, net of cash acquired, while borrowing $1,000 million under our revolving credit facility. We remain focused on our long-term capital allocation framework, including the flexibility to pursue strategic acquisitions.

Table of Contents

Q2 2026 Financial Results1

Revenue

Income from Operations

Operating Margin

Diluted EPS

During the quarter ended June 30, 2026, revenues increased by $236 million as compared to the quarter ended June 30, 2025, representing growth of 4.5%, or 4.1% on a constant currency1 basis. Revenue growth was positively impacted by the ramp up of several recently won large deals and increasing demand for our intuitive operations and automation services as well as our AI and analytics services. Additionally, revenue growth was positively impacted by the sale of third-party products in connection with our integrated offerings strategy and our recently completed acquisitions. See 'Revenues - Reportable Business Segments and Geographic Markets' within Results of Operations for further details.

Our GAAP operating margin increased to 15.9% for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 from 15.6% for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. Our Adjusted Operating Margin1 increased to 16.0% for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 from 15.6% for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. Our operating margins for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, as compared to the quarter ended June 30, 2025, were positively impacted by operational efficiencies and the beneficial impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements, partially offset by increased compensation costs, the dilutive impact of our recently completed acquisitions and the impact of the sale of third-party products in connection with our integrated offerings strategy. In addition, our GAAP operating margin for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 was negatively impacted by $84 million in costs related to Project Leap (see Note 4) and positively impacted by the $81 million partial reversal of the 2019 India Defined Contribution Obligation liability (see Note 11), both of which were excluded from our Adjusted Operating Margin.

As a global professional services company, we compete on the basis of the knowledge, experience, insights, skills and talent of our employees and the value they can provide to our clients. We closely monitor attrition trends focusing on the metric that we believe is most relevant to our business. During the first quarter of 2026, we modified our definition of Voluntary Attrition - Tech Services to exclude certain categories of negotiated separations and have recast prior periods to conform to the new definition. For the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2026, our Voluntary Attrition - Tech Services was 13.0% as compared to 12.6% for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2025. We finished the second quarter of 2026 with approximately 356,700 employees as compared to 343,800 employees at the end of the second quarter of 2025.

1 Adjusted Income from Operations, Adjusted Operating Margin, Adjusted Diluted EPS and constant currency revenue growth are not measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, as applicable.

Table of Contents

Business Outlook

We continue to expect our clients' focus to be on their transformation into AI-ready, technology-driven, data-enabled, customer-centric and differentiated businesses. To support this transformation and drive greater business resiliency, clients have demanded and may increasingly demand services and solutions that deliver productivity and cost savings. We believe clients will continue to contend with industry-specific changes driven by evolving digital technologies, uncertainty in the regulatory environment, industry consolidation and convergence as well as international trade policies, including tariffs, and other macroeconomic and geopolitical factors. This includes the uncertainty related to the global economy, which has affected and may continue to affect their demand for our services and discretionary work.

We increasingly use AI-based technologies, including GenAI, in our client offerings and our own internal operations. AI technologies and services are part of a highly competitive and rapidly evolving market. We plan to continue to make significant investments in our AI capabilities to meet the needs of our clients and harness AI's value in a flexible, secure, scalable and responsible way. As AI-based technologies or other forms of automation evolve, demand for some services that we currently perform for our clients may be reduced, and our ability to obtain favorable pricing or other terms for some of our services may be diminished.

Potential tax law and other regulatory and administrative changes, including judicial decisions thereon, may impact our future results. The government of India implemented labor law reforms effective November 21, 2025, including the Code on Social Security, 2020, and additionally published The Social Security Rules in May 2026 and notified the Employees Provident Fund Scheme of 2026 in June 2026. The government of India continues to issue clarifications on various aspects of the Labor Code, and certain Indian states are yet to notify or operationalize their corresponding rules. The outcome of these clarifications could impact our compensation and benefit expenses in India. In addition, in March 2024, India and Mauritius signed a Protocol to amend the India-Mauritius Income Tax Treaty. We continue to evaluate the potential impact of the amendment, which, depending on its final terms when entered into force, could increase our effective income tax rate, as CTS India is a subsidiary of our wholly-owned Mauritius entity. For additional information, see "Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025.

Table of Contents

Results of Operations

Three Months Ended June 30, 2026 Compared to Three Months Ended June 30, 2025

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, certain financial data for the three months ended June 30:

[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]

Item 7.     Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Executive Summary

Cognizant is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, engineering modern businesses and delivering strategic outcomes for our clients. We help clients modernize technology, reimagine processes and transform experiences so they can stay ahead in today's fast-changing world, where AI is reshaping organizations in every field. As an AI builder, we provide deep expertise at the intersection of industry and technology, combining our perspective with extensive knowledge of our clients' organizations to build industry-specific platforms and incorporate context into systems, AI models and custom solutions. We tailor our services and solutions to specific industries with an integrated global delivery model that employs client service and delivery teams based at client locations and dedicated global and regional delivery centers. Our services include consulting, application development, systems integration, quality engineering and assurance, engineering research and development, application maintenance, infrastructure and security as well as business process services and automation.

2025 Financial Results1

Revenues

Income from Operations

Operating Margin

Diluted EPS

During the year ended December 31, 2025, revenues increased by $1,372 million as compared to the year ended December 31, 2024, representing an increase of 7.0%, or 6.4% on a constant currency basis1. Our acquisition of Belcan contributed 260 basis points to revenue growth. Additionally, revenues were positively impacted by growth in our Health Sciences and Financial Services segments, partially offset by weakness in our Products and Resources (excluding the acquisition of Belcan) and Communications Media and Technology segments.

Our operating margin and Adjusted Operating Margin1 increased to 16.1% and 15.8%, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2025, from 14.7% and 15.3%, respectively, for the year ended December 31, 2024. Our 2025 GAAP and Adjusted Operating Margins were positively impacted by net savings generated from our NextGen program, operational efficiencies and the beneficial impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements, partially offset by increased compensation costs and the dilutive impact of the acquisition of Belcan. In addition, our GAAP operating margin for 2025 was positively impacted by 30 basis points, or $62 million, from the gain on sale of property and equipment, and our GAAP operating margin for 2024 was negatively impacted by NextGen charges, both of which were excluded from our Adjusted Operating Margin1.

1 Adjusted Income From Operations, Adjusted Operating Margin, Adjusted Diluted EPS and constant currency revenue growth are not measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

Table of Contents

As a global professional services company, we compete on the basis of the knowledge, experience, insights, skills and talent of our employees and the value they can provide to our clients. We closely monitor attrition trends focusing on the metric that we believe is most relevant to our business. For the year ended December 31, 2025 our Voluntary Attrition - Tech Services was 13.9% as compared to 15.9% for the year ended December 31, 2024. We finished 2025 with approximately 351,600 employees as compared to 336,800 employees at the end of 2024.

In July 2025, the OBBBA was enacted in the United States, which, among other provisions, repealed the requirement to capitalize U.S. R&E costs. As a result, we do not believe it is more likely than not that we will realize our deferred tax asset of $390 million related to R&E costs capitalized outside the United States. These amounts would have otherwise been available to offset certain future U.S. taxes on our non-U.S. earnings, which, as a result of this repeal, we no longer project to be applicable to us. Therefore, in the third quarter of 2025, we recorded a one-time, non-cash income tax expense of $390 million. This impacted our full year 2025 GAAP diluted EPS by $0.80, which is added back for the calculation of Adjusted EPS. Other than this impact, we do not expect the OBBBA to significantly impact our effective income tax rate. Additionally, as a result of this repeal, our cash taxes during 2025 were reduced by approximately $200 million as compared to our initial cash tax projections prior to the repeal. These assessments are based upon our current interpretation of the OBBBA, which may change as a result of future clarifications or guidance.

The Government of India implemented labor law reforms effective November 21, 2025, including the Code on Social Security, 2020. As a result, during the fourth quarter of 2025, we recorded a one-time increase to our defined benefit liability for past service of $147 million, in "Other noncurrent liabilities" in our consolidated statement of financial position with a corresponding increase in "Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)". Additionally, we anticipate a modest increase in our defined benefit costs prospectively. Certain aspects of the Labor Code rely on the issuance of rules and regulations. Additionally, the Government of India is in the process of clarifying certain aspects of the Labor Code. The issuance of rules and regulations as well as the outcome of these clarifications could impact our compensation and benefit expenses in India.

Business Outlook

See "Overview" within Part I, Item 1. Business for information on our strategic approach.

We continue to expect our clients' focus to be on their transformation into AI-ready, technology-driven, data-enabled, customer-centric and differentiated businesses. To support this transformation and drive greater business resiliency, clients have demanded and may increasingly demand services and solutions that deliver productivity and cost savings. We believe clients will continue to contend with industry-specific changes driven by evolving digital technologies, uncertainty in the regulatory environment, industry consolidation and convergence as well as international trade policies, including tariffs, and other macroeconomic and geopolitical factors. This includes the uncertainty related to the global economy, which has affected and may continue to affect their demand for our services and discretionary work.

We increasingly use AI-based technologies, including GenAI, in our client offerings and our own internal operations. AI technologies and services are part of a highly competitive and rapidly evolving market. We plan to continue to make significant investments in our AI capabilities to meet the needs of our clients and harness AI's value in a flexible, secure, scalable and responsible way. As AI-based technologies or other forms of automation evolve, demand for some services that we currently perform for our clients may be reduced and our ability to obtain favorable pricing or other terms for some of our services may be diminished.

Potential tax law and other regulatory and administrative changes, including judicial decisions thereon, may impact our future results. In addition, in March 2024, India and Mauritius signed a Protocol to amend the India-Mauritius Income Tax Treaty. We continue to evaluate the potential impact of the amendment, which, depending on its final terms when entered into force, could increase our effective income tax rate, as CTS India is a subsidiary of our wholly-owned Mauritius entity. For additional information, see Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Table of Contents

Results of Operations

For a discussion of our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023, including a year-to-year comparison between 2024 and 2023, refer to Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.

The Year Ended December 31, 2025 Compared to The Year Ended December 31, 2024

The following table sets forth certain financial data for the years ended December 31:

(a)    Exclusive of depreciation and amortization expense

N/A    Not Applicable

N/A    Not Applicable2

2 Adjusted Income from Operations, Adjusted Operating Margin and Adjusted Diluted EPS are not measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for more information and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures, as applicable.

Table of Contents

Revenues - Reportable Business Segments and Geographic Markets

Revenues of $21,108 million across our business segments and g

[Excerpt truncated for page length; the complete text is on the linked full-MD&A page.]