Cognizant key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Cognizant had return on equity of 15.2%, an operating margin of 16.1%, debt equal to 3.8% of equity and a current ratio of 2.14. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Cognizant: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2009Dec 2009	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMSept 2026
Operating margin	18.9%	18.8%	18.6%	18.5%	19.0%	18.4%	17.3%	17.0%	16.8%	17.4%	14.6%	12.7%	15.3%	15.3%	13.9%	14.7%	16.1%	15.7%
Net margin	16.3%	16.0%	14.4%	14.3%	13.9%	14.0%	13.1%	11.5%	10.2%	13.0%	11.0%	8.4%	11.5%	11.8%	11.0%	11.3%	10.6%	11.8%
Free-cash-flow margin	18.2%	12.6%	9.6%	11.4%	13.1%	12.3%	15.4%	10.0%	14.3%	13.7%	12.6%	17.4%	12.0%	11.5%	10.4%	9.3%	12.3%	10.8%
Return on equity	20.2%	23.5%	23.4%	23.9%	22.4%	20.7%	19.1%	15.5%	14.1%	19.0%	16.4%	12.7%	18.7%	18.8%	16.7%	16.2%	15.2%	17.3%
Return on assets	16.0%	18.5%	17.5%	17.5%	16.8%	14.7%	13.2%	11.4%	10.2%	13.5%	11.5%	8.4%	12.3%	12.8%	11.7%	11.7%	11.0%	12.2%
Asset turnover	0.98	1.16	1.21	1.22	1.21	1.05	1.01	0.99	1.00	1.04	1.05	1.01	1.06	1.09	1.07	1.03	1.04	1.04
Current ratio	3.57	3.78	3.38	3.50	3.46	2.48	2.91	3.56	3.21	3.18	2.55	1.94	2.08	2.17	2.25	2.09	2.14	2.22
Debt to equity	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	21.2%	13.8%	8.2%	8.2%	6.6%	6.7%	6.5%	5.5%	5.2%	4.8%	6.3%	3.8%	10.5%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	—	—	—	—	—	—	119.0x	120.5x	107.9x	103.7x	94.3x	88.1x	—	156.2x	65.6x	53.6x	91.6x	73.2x
Effective tax rate	16.0%	16.5%	24.4%	24.2%	27.2%	25.2%	25.0%	34.2%	43.4%	25.0%	25.3%	33.6%	24.5%	24.2%	24.0%	24.3%	36.2%	26.2%
SG&A as % of revenue	22.0%	21.2%	21.7%	21.2%	19.5%	19.8%	20.2%	20.2%	18.2%	18.6%	17.7%	18.6%	18.9%	17.7%	16.8%	16.3%	15.3%	14.5%
Capital spending as % of revenue	2.3%	4.0%	4.7%	4.6%	3.0%	2.1%	2.2%	2.2%	1.9%	2.3%	2.3%	2.4%	1.5%	1.7%	1.6%	1.5%	1.4%	1.5%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	111.4%	79.0%	66.4%	79.7%	94.6%	87.6%	117.9%	86.6%	141.2%	105.4%	114.4%	208.4%	103.7%	97.6%	94.7%	81.6%	116.4%	91.8%
Dividends ÷ net income	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0%	0.0%	17.6%	22.3%	24.6%	34.5%	23.8%	24.6%	27.8%	26.8%	27.4%	23.9%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	2.7%	10.2%	63.7%	62.1%	15.4%	19.7%	24.0%	38.1%	101.5%	78.1%	128.1%	72.4%	57.8%	88.8%	82.2%	66.0%	76.6%	119.8%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Cognizant: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026	2026 Q3Sept 2026
Operating margin	14.8%	16.7%	15.6%	16.0%	16.0%	15.6%	15.9%	15.4%
Net margin	10.7%	13.0%	12.3%	5.1%	12.2%	12.2%	11.6%	11.1%
Free-cash-flow margin	16.5%	6.3%	6.3%	21.4%	14.6%	3.7%	8.4%	16.3%
Current ratio	2.09	2.22	2.41	2.36	2.14	2.23	2.18	2.22
Debt to equity	6.3%	4.0%	3.9%	3.9%	3.8%	3.8%	10.8%	10.5%
SG&A as % of revenue	16.6%	15.5%	15.4%	15.4%	15.1%	14.6%	13.3%	14.8%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

5 of 7 checks passed · September 30, 2026

What it owns · $21.3bn

Short-term assets $8.1bnLonger-term assets $13.2bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $21.3bn

Short-term liabilities $3.6bnLonger-term liabilities $3.0bnShareholders' equity $14.7bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $8.1bn of assets due within a year against $3.6bn of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $8.1bn short-term assets against $3.0bn of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $1.5bn of cash against $1.6bn of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 11% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 5% to 11% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $2.7bn of operating cash flow against $1.6bn of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $3.4bn against $47m of interest.

From Cognizant's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

71 /100

Strong moat

How hard Cognizant's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 19 / 20

Net income has been a median 11.4% of total assets over 10 years.
Durability 14 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 15.4%; its worst year was 13.6%.
Cash conversion 16 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 12.5% of revenue.
Discipline 20 / 20

The diluted share count fell 11.5% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 1.3% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: High. In this industry, the core product is information work that AI systems increasingly perform. The score above includes a 15-point deduction for that exposure (86 before it).

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Cognizant's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 30, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Cognizant.