Cognizant lifts annual profit forecast on strong financial services growth

July 29 (Reuters) - Cognizant ‌Technology on ​Wednesday ​raised its annual adjusted profit forecast after recording strong growth in its financial ‌services business and continued operating margin expansion in ⁠the second quarter, even as enterprises remained cautious about ‌discretionary spending.

Shares of the ‌company were up 10%.

• Cognizant now expects adjusted profit per share for the year in the ​range of $5.70 to $5.82, up from its prior forecast of $5.63 to $5.77.

• "Operational efficiency and favorable currency ⁠movements more than offset higher third-party cost and compensation costs, as ​well as the impact of our recently completed acquisitions," finance chief Jatin Dalal said.

• ​During the second quarter, ‌revenue from the company's Financial Services segment — its largest business — grew 12% from ⁠a year earlier, reflecting continued demand from banking and financial clients.

• Cognizant also completed the acquisition of AI ⁠infrastructure and data center services firm Astreya for about $634 million ​during the quarter and launched an AI-focused transformation program called Project Leap.

• Cognizant expects third-quarter revenue between $5.60 billion and $5.68 billion, ‌compared with analysts' average estimate of $5.70 billion, according to data compiled by ‌LSEG.

• Cognizant is a technology services company that ⁠provides consulting, software engineering, ‌cloud and AI ​services to businesses worldwide.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan ‌Ananda)

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