Cognizant forecasts slowest revenue growth in 14 years

By Abhirup Roy

(Reuters) - IT services provider Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp forecast its slowest quarterly revenue growth in 14 years, adding to mounting worries about clients keeping a tight lid on technology spending.

Shares of the company, which also reported its first revenue miss in six quarters, fell as much as 8.7 percent to a year-low of $53.46 in morning trading on Monday.

Cognizant, whose rivals include Indian IT services firms such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Ltd, said the financial services sector was off to a slow start this year.

"They're certainly slowing down some of the discretionary spend as well as looking for ways to optimize even on the run-the-business activities through efficiency and more effectiveness," President Gordon Coburn told Reuters.

Coburn said the sector was in a challenging environment due to volatility in the markets.

Revenue in the financial services business, the company's biggest, rose 16.6 percent to $1.31 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31.

Growth in healthcare also slowed this quarter.

Revenue in the division rose about 23 percent to $951.9 million, the slowest in five quarters, and accounted for about 30 percent of total revenue.

A wave of M&As among U.S. health insurers is set to reduce the number of national players to three from five. This has created uncertainty, as the companies pause spending while they work through the deals.

However, Coburn said the business was likely to see significant strength around mid-2016 with a strong pipeline of large deals.

The healthcare unit has led Cognizant's growth in the past year, driven by its $2.7 billion acquisition of U.S. healthcare IT services provider TriZetto Corp and the implementation of the U.S. Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

Teaneck, New Jersey-based Cognizant said it expects adjusted profit of between 78-80 cents per share and revenue of $3.18 billion-$3.24 billion for the three months ending March.

The top end of the revenue range indicates an 11.34 percent growth in the current quarter from a year earlier, its slowest since the March quarter of 2002.

Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 81 cents per share and revenue of $3.32 billion for the first quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Cognizant's revenue increased 17.9 percent to $3.23 billion in the fourth quarter.

Excluding items, the company earned 80 cents per share.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 78 cents per share and revenue of $3.24 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)