Activist sees value in this stock

Article Excerpt

COGNIZANT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS CORP. $80 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol CTSH; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 494.6 million; Market cap: $39.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.6%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.cognizant.com) provides solutions to complex software development and maintenance problems that companies face as they transition to a digitized business. The stock moved up recently on news that activist investor Mantle Ridge now owns $1 billion of the company’s shares, or about 3% of the total outstanding. Mantle Ridge prefers to work with companies it feels are undervalued to improve profitability instead of demanding board seats or other changes. For all of 2025, the company’s revenue will probably improve between 2.6% and 5.1% to reach $20.3 billion to $20.8 billion. Earnings will also probably rise 5% to between $4.90 and $5.06 a share; the stock trades at a reasonable 16.1 times the midpoint of that range. The company also just raised the quarterly dividend by 3.3%; the new annual rate of $1.24 yields 1.6%. Cognizant Technology Solutions…