Cognizant: stable revenue in Q3

"Against a challenging demand environment, we continued to strengthen our portfolio, execute our digital strategy and increase our competitiveness," said Brian Humphries, Chief Executive Officer. "Clients are realizing they can distinguish themselves if they embrace disruption and transform. We are committed to making that easy for them."

Third Quarter 2020 Performance by Business Segment

Financial Services (34.6% of revenues) revenue decreased 1.5% year-over-year, or 2.2% in constant currency, driven by declines in both banking and insurance. Growth in regional banks and capital markets in North America was offset by weakness in select global banking accounts and in Europe.

Healthcare (29.0% of revenues) revenue grew 4.8% year-over-year, or 4.2% in constant currency, driven by life sciences. Growth in bio pharmaceutical clients and revenue from our acquisition of Zenith Technologies offset weakness in medical device clients. Within healthcare, performance among payer clients improved.

Products and Resources (21.9% of revenues) revenue decreased 4.0% year-over-year, or 4.6% in constant currency. The decline was driven by retail, consumer goods, travel and hospitality clients that were particularly adversely affected by the pandemic, partially offset by double-digit constant currency growth in manufacturing, logistics, energy and utilities.

Communications, Media and Technology (14.5% of revenues) revenue increased 0.2% year-over-year, or a decline of 0.2% in constant currency. Growth within our communications and media clients was more than offset by a negative 920 basis point impact from our 2019 strategic decision to exit certain content-related services. Excluding that impact, Communications, Media and Technology grew approximately 9% in constant currency.

"Our cost discipline and strong year-to-date cash flow enabled continued investments in growth initiatives. We took further actions to increase our financial flexibility in support of our strategic priorities," said Jan Siegmund, Chief Financial Officer. "Since the beginning of the third quarter, we returned over $800 million of capital to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends."

Full Year 2020 Outlook

The Company is providing the following guidance: