Cognizant's Q2 results likely to key on bookings growth, AI: Wedbush

Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) is set to report second-quarter results on July 29, and Wedbush Securities said the two keys for investors are bookings growth and artificial intelligence.

“Cognizant reports its FY2Q26 earnings results July 29th before market open, where we expect to see the start of a major turnaround in the company’s growth and profitability metrics while seeing positive updates around its TCV metrics, including its momentum with AI-driven transformation deals,” analyst Steven Wahrhaftig wrote in a note to clients. “The stock has been de-rated along with the rest of the industry following IBM’s weaker-than-expected preannouncement last week, which we believe has materially reset the bar, but we believe this represents a solid risk/reward for CTSH heading into the print.” 

Wahrhaftig, who has an Outperform rating and a $70 price target on Cognizant, added that the company's vector strategy will be in focus to gauge the level of success it's having in AI.

“We expect to see more positive momentum in the company’s book of business into the second half of 2026, with management across multiple companies noting a return to discretionary spending is expected while its three-vector AI strategy is seeing more engagement with more customers turning to CTSH to get better ROI from their AI spending,” Wahrhaftig added. “The company noted seeing ~5,000 AI engagements in the prior quarter, but we expect engagements to continue growing as more customers look to future-proof their businesses and close the widening gap between AI investment and tangible outcomes.”