Cognizant vs Google: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Cognizant reported $21.1B of revenue in FY2025 and $2.2B of net income. Google reported $402.8B of revenue in FY2025 and $132.2B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
Cognizant
Cognizant's revenue grew slowly from $19.43 billion in 2022 to $19.74 billion in 2024, then jumped 7% to $21.11 billion in 2025, helped by large deals and the Belcan acquisition. Net income was $2.23 billion in 2025, GAAP operating margin was 16.1%, and adjusted operating margin was 15.8%. Free cash flow reached $2.67 billion. The company returns most of that cash: it paid $610 million in dividends and bought back $1.3 billion of stock in 2025, and deployed $1.6 billion on buybacks in the first half of 2026 alone, while also spending $1.3 billion on acquisitions and drawing $1.0 billion on its revolving credit facility. For 2026 it guides to revenue of $22.04-$22.35 billion (4.0%-5.5% constant-currency growth), adjusted operating margin of 16.0%-16.2%, and adjusted EPS of $5.70-$5.82.
Alphabet's FY2025 Form 10-K reported $402.836 billion of revenue and $132.170 billion of net income, making it one of the most profitable companies in the world. Growth accelerated in 2026: Q2 2026 revenue rose 24% year over year to $119.8 billion, operating income rose 30% to $40.8 billion and operating margin reached 34.0%. Reported Q2 net income of $112.1 billion was inflated by a $99.0 billion gain, mostly unrealized gains on equity holdings, so operating income is the cleaner measure. The trade-off is spending: management raised 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $195-205 billion, and analysts flagged negative free cash flow in Q2 2026 as data-center investment outpaced operating cash flow.
Revenue and profit by year
Cognizant
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $21.1B | $2.2B | 10.6% | +7.0% | Source |
| FY2024 | $19.7B | — | 0.0% | +2.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $19.4B | — | 0.0% | -0.4% | Source |
| FY2022 | $19.4B | — | 0.0% | +5.0% | Source |
| FY2021 | $18.5B | $2.1B | 11.5% | +11.1% | Source |
| FY2020 | $16.7B | $1.4B | 8.4% | -0.8% | Source |
| FY2019 | $16.8B | $1.8B | 11.0% | +4.1% | Source |
| FY2018 | $16.1B | $2.1B | 13.0% | +8.9% | Source |
| FY2017 | $14.8B | $1.5B | 10.2% | +9.8% | Source |
| FY2016 | $13.5B | $1.6B | 11.5% | — | Source |
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $402.8B | $132.2B | 32.8% | +15.1% | Source |
| FY2024 | $350B | $100.1B | 28.6% | +13.9% | Source |
| FY2023 | $307.4B | $73.8B | 24.0% | +8.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | $282.8B | $60B | 21.2% | +9.8% | Source |
| FY2021 | $257.6B | $76B | 29.5% | +41.2% | Source |
| FY2020 | $182.5B | $40.3B | 22.1% | +12.8% | Source |
| FY2019 | $161.9B | $34.3B | 21.2% | +18.3% | Source |
| FY2018 | $136.8B | $30.7B | 22.5% | +23.4% | Source |
| FY2017 | $110.9B | $12.7B | 11.4% | +22.8% | Source |
| FY2016 | $90.3B | $19.5B | 21.6% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Cognizant
- Health Sciences
30.1% (2025)
Work for health plans, providers, and life-sciences companies, including TriZetto software and healthcare operations. $6.35 billion in 2025.
- Financial Services
29.2% (2025)
Technology and operations work for banks, insurers, and capital-markets firms. $6.17 billion in 2025; grew 12% in Q2 2026 to become the largest segment.
- Products and Resources
25.0% (2025)
Engineering, data, cloud, and operations work for manufacturing, retail, consumer goods, travel, energy, and utilities clients, including Belcan. $5.29 billion in 2025.
- Communications, Media and Technology
15.7% (2025)
Services for telecom, media, and technology companies. $3.30 billion in 2025.
- Google Search advertising~12%
Auction-based text and shopping ads served alongside organic search results, generating approximately $198 billion in FY2024 through cost-per-click and cost-per-impression pricing.
- YouTube advertising~12%
Video advertising across pre-roll, mid-roll, display, and Shorts formats, plus subscription revenue from YouTube Premium, Music, and YouTube TV, totaling approximately $36 billion in ad revenue for FY2024.
- Google Cloud~12%
Infrastructure-as-a-service, platform tools, Vertex AI, BigQuery, Mandiant cybersecurity, and Google Workspace subscriptions, generating significant FY2025 revenue.
- Google Network~12%
Ads placed on third-party websites through AdSense, AdMob, and Google Ad Manager, generating approximately $31 billion in FY2024 with revenue shared with publishers.
- Other Bets~12%
Revenue from Waymo autonomous ride-hailing, Verily health technology, hardware sales (Pixel, Nest, Fitbit), Google Play commissions, and other non-advertising sources.
Business model and strategy
Cognizant
How it makes money
Cognizant is a B2B services business organized into four industry segments: Financial Services, Health Sciences, Products and Resources, and Communications, Media and Technology. In 2025 Health Sciences ($6.35B) and Financial Services ($6.17B) were the two largest; by Q2 2026 Financial Services had become the largest at 31.6% of revenue after growing 12% year over year.
Growth strategy
Under CEO Ravi Kumar S, Cognizant's growth plan has four parts: win more large deals (seven deals of $100 million or more were signed in Q2 2026 alone), use AI to modernize clients' legacy applications, data, and infrastructure, deepen hyperscaler partnerships with Microsoft, Google Cloud, and AWS, and buy specialists.
Competitive advantage
Cognizant's clearest advantage is depth in regulated industries, especially U.S. healthcare and financial services. The 2014 TriZetto acquisition gave it core administration software used by many U.S. health plans, which pulls in implementation, hosting, and operations work and is costly for clients to replace.
How it makes money
Alphabet makes money mainly by selling ads against user intent and attention. Google Search & other, YouTube ads and the Google Network together account for roughly three quarters of revenue. Advertisers bid in real-time auctions to appear next to queries or videos, and Google charges per click, view or conversion.
Growth strategy
Alphabet's growth plan has four parts: put Gemini into Search (AI Overviews and AI Mode), Workspace, Android and Chrome to keep users and advertisers engaged; sell AI infrastructure, TPUs and Gemini models through Google Cloud, backed by the Wiz security platform acquired in March 2026; grow subscriptions such as YouTube Premium, YouTube TV and Google One AI plans;
Competitive advantage
Alphabet's edge is a stack few rivals own end to end: default distribution through Android and Chrome, the largest pool of search-intent data, YouTube's video audience, its own TPU chips and global data centers, and frontier models from Google DeepMind.
Questions about Cognizant vs Google
Which company has higher revenue — Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation or Alphabet Inc.?
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation reported $21.1B (FY2025), while Alphabet Inc. reported $402.8B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Alphabet Inc. is the larger business, with Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation vs Alphabet Inc.?
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation's market capitalisation stands at $25.6B, while Alphabet Inc.'s is $4.31T. Alphabet Inc. carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation.
Which is more financially efficient — Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation or Alphabet Inc.?
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation generates $59k / employee in revenue per employee, while Alphabet Inc. generates $2.11M / employee. Alphabet Inc. shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation and Alphabet Inc. make money?
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation and Alphabet Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation: Cognizant is a B2B services business organized into four industry segments: Financial Services, Health Sciences, Products and Resources, and Communications, Media and Technology. Alphabet Inc.: Alphabet makes money mainly by selling ads against user intent and attention.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation or Alphabet Inc.?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation trades at 1.2x P/S and Alphabet Inc. at 10.7x P/S. Alphabet Inc. commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation bigger than Alphabet Inc.?
By last reported revenue, Alphabet Inc. ($402.8B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation ($21.1B (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Cognizant vs Google overview