New York : US-based IT services major Cognizant posted a 15.2% jump in net profit for March quarter at $441.2 million from $ 382.9 million a year ago, driven by growth in verticals like manufacturing. However, with a 10 % rise in topline, this is the slowest quarterly revenue growth for Cognizant in 14 years as its clients in financial and healthcare services held back on spending. Company’s revenues stood at $ 3.2 billion in the said quarter from $ 2.91 billion in the year-ago period.
While this was within Cognizant’s own revenue guidance of $ 3.18-3.24 billion, but the performance pales in comparison to its Indian rivals TCS and Infosys. On sequential basis, revenues dipped 0.9 % for Cognizant, which follows January-December as fiscal year.
Revenues from financial services, which accounted for over 40 % of Cognizant’s topline, fell 1.7%, while that from healthcare was lower by 4 % compared to the previous quarter. Cognizant has also lowered the upper limit of its revenue forecast for the fiscal 2016 to be in the range of $13.65-14.0 billion from its earlier estimate of $ 13.65-14.2 billion.
“Based on first quarter results and our visibility on deals ramping up throughout the year, we have tightened our 2016 revenue guidance range,” Cognizant CFO Karen McLoughlin said. For April-June 2016 quarter, it expects its revenue to be between $ 3.34 billion to $ 3.40 billion, representing incremental revenue in the range of $ 140-200 million or 4.4-6.3% sequentially.
