Cognizant posts upbeat revenue in the first quarter

With a 10.3% rise in revenues of $3.91 billion, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) beat Street estimates in the first quarter of 2018. GAAP net income dropped to $520 million or $0.88 per share in the recently ended quarter from last year’s $557 million or $0.92 per share. Adjusted EPS was $1.06.

Cognizant saw revenue increases in all its segments. Financial Services segment revenues surged 6.2% while Healthcare revenues jumped 11.8%. In the Products and Resources segment, revenues grew 11.4% while in Communications, Media and Technology, revenues rose 18.4%. The company has made significant investments in areas such as cybersecurity and cloud computing in the healthcare and financial services industries.

Cognizant posted revenue growth across all its geographical regions too. In North America, revenues increased 7.8%. Europe, as a whole, saw an improvement of 22.4% with an increase of 13.1% in the UK. In the Rest of World segment, the company posted revenue growth of 11.9%.

The company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per share on Cognizant Class A common stock, payable on May 31 to shareholders of record on May 22, 2018.

For the second quarter, Cognizant expects revenues to be between $4 billion and $4.04 billion, and adjusted earnings to be at least $1.09 a share. For the full year of 2018, revenues are expected to be between $16.05 billion and $16.30 billion, and adjusted diluted earnings is touted to be at least $4.47 per share.

Last week, Cognizant acquired data analytics services company Hedera Consulting. The acquisition is expected to broaden Cognizant’s digital and consulting capabilities in Belgium and the Netherlands.