CTSH Grows Through Strong Partnerships: Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?
Cognizant Technology SolutionsCTSH shares have plunged 49.6% in the year-to-date period compared with the broader Zacks Computer & Technology sector's return of 20%. The underperformance can be attributed to softer discretionary spending, trade and policy uncertainty, and continued caution in parts of Products & Resources and Health Sciences.
However, Cognizant continues to gain traction in AI-led services and platform-driven delivery, supported by large-deal ramps and steady constant-currency growth. In the first quarter of 2026, the company reported more than 5,000 AI engagements and said nearly 40% of its code is AI-assisted, supported by partnerships with Anthropic, Google Gemini and OpenAI Codex.
Bookings grew 21% year over year in the quarter and trailing 12-month bookings reached $29.6 billion, for a book-to-bill of about 1.4x, reflecting continued large-deal activity.
CTSH Expands AI Portfolio With NOW
Cognizant is expanding its footprint in the AI space through partnerships. The company expanded its agentic AI capabilities by enabling ServiceNowNOW AI Agents to work with its Neuro AI Multi-Agent Accelerator.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation Price and Consensus
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation price-consensus-chart | Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation Quote
The integration allows enterprises to orchestrate AI agents across ServiceNow, custom-built systems, and third-party platforms through a unified environment. Organizations can automate complex cross-platform workflows more efficiently by eliminating siloed agent operations and reducing the need for custom integrations.
The collaboration between Cognizant and ServiceNow will help businesses connect data, AI and workflows with greater governance and scalability, supporting the growing adoption of multi-agent AI strategies across enterprises.
Cognizant's Rich Partner Base to Drive Prospects
Cognizant’s growing partner base, which includes ServiceNow, RubrikRBRK, SnowflakeSNOW and CrowdStrike, is expected to support its long-term growth prospects.
The company recently expanded its strategic alliance with Rubrik to help enterprises deploy autonomous AI systems securely and at scale. The partnership integrates Rubrik Agent Cloud into Cognizant's Neuro AI platform and AI Factory, enabling enhanced AI governance, policy enforcement and operational resilience.
Cognizant also expanded its collaboration with Snowflake to accelerate enterprise AI adoption through the Snowflake CoCo platform. This partnership is expected to help CTSH scale production-grade AI solutions faster and improve operational efficiency.
CTSH Initiates Strong Q2 Guidance
Cognizant's expanding AI portfolio and growing partner ecosystem reflect solid top-line growth potential over the long run.
For the second quarter of 2026, Cognizant expects revenues in the range of $5.45-$5.52 billion, implying year-over-year growth of 3.8%-5.3% (3.2%-4.7% at constant currency).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for second-quarter 2026 revenues is pegged at $5.49 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 4.75%.
The consensus mark for earnings is pegged at $1.39 per share, which has increased by a penny over the past 30 days. The figure implies a year-over-year increase of 6.11%.
What Should Investors Do With CTSH Stock?
Cognizant's expanding AI capabilities, strong large-deal activity and growing partner ecosystem are expected to support its long-term growth prospects.
However, macroeconomic uncertainty, softening discretionary demand and stiff competition remain concerns that could hurt CTSH's near-term performance.
Cognizant currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), suggesting that investors may want to wait for a more favorable entry point in the stock. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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