MeritValue

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORP

CTSHdata completeness 100%19 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORP earns about 19% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 7% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $47.26 and $61.53 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$18.5B1$19.4B2$19.4B3$19.7B3$21.1B3
Net income$2.14B4$2.29B5$2.13B6$2.24B6$2.23B6
Operating cash flow$2.5B7$2.57B8$2.33B9$2.12B9$2.88B9
Capital expenditure$279M10$332M11$317M12$297M12$288M12
Free cash flow (derived)$2.22B7$2.24B8$2.01B9$1.83B9$2.6B9
Total debt$664M13$646M14$639M15$908M16$576M16
Cash & equivalents$1.79B17$2.19B18$2.62B19$2.23B20$1.9B20
Diluted shares528.0M519.0M505.0M497.0M489.0M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
$307.06
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$45.6
Free cash flow it threw off
$53.07
Debt you’d be carrying
$11.78

10 shares is a claim on $307.06 of net worth that earned you $45.6 and generated $53.07 of cash last year, against $11.78 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
19% avg · 5y
FY21 20%FY22 21%FY23 19%FY24 17%FY25 16%

It earned about 19% on invested capital, year after year, against a ~9% cost of capital — the footprint of real pricing power. Competition usually drags returns like this back down; here it hasn't.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−7% shares · 5y

Share count is down 7% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice. Total debt has fallen 13% — deleveraging.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.1.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $47.26 and $61.53 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story; the Graham Number is a stricter floor, not a target.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$57.1
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$2.01B
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$61.53
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$2.01B
Earnings Power Value
$47.26
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$2.23B
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$56.13
assumptions (1)
  • grahamMultiplier2250.0%

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years0.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $61.53
The three cases
Bear0.0%$61.53
Base0.0%$61.53
Bull5.0%$75.76

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 0.0%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001058290-24-000017 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001058290-25-000017 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001058290-26-000008 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001058290-24-000017 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001058290-25-000017 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001058290-26-000008 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001058290-24-000017 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001058290-25-000017 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001058290-26-000008 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001058290-24-000017 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001058290-25-000017 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001058290-26-000008 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001058290-23-000027 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001058290-24-000017 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001058290-25-000017 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001058290-26-000008 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001058290-23-000027 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001058290-24-000017 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001058290-25-000017 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001058290-26-000008 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)