Published: October 21, 2009
The
correct answer is
(C.) Cognizant Technology Solutions
(Nasdaq: CTSH)
Most companies appreciate the cost
savings available in lower-paid, but
still highly-skilled offshore labor
markets. They also like having local
reps available to personally answer
questions and assist hands-on with
any issues that might pop up.
Cognizant's unique onsite/offshore
delivery model solves both demands
at once.
The firm is one of the world's top
providers of software programming,
systems development, data
warehousing, application testing and
maintenance, and a wide range of
other IT outsourcing and consulting
services. The U.S.-based company has
regional offices from Dallas to Los
Angeles with technical teams that
can be dispatched to fulfill certain
tasks in person -- everything else
is seamlessly handled in development
centers located in foreign markets
like India.
This dual approach explains why the
company has been able to forge tight
relationships with so many North
American clients and gain ground on
larger rivals like Infosys
Technologies (Nasdaq: INFY). While
the Indian IT services market has
been growing at a heated +30% rate
during the past five years,
Cognizant's sales have been climbing
at +50%. Even last year's historic
slowdown couldn't alter that growth
trajectory. Despite tighter
discretionary spending, the firm's
sales still shot up +32%, tops for
the industry. Cognizant's employee
headcount quadrupled from 15,000 in
2004 to 61,000 last year. During the
first six months of 2009 (when many
businesses were in layoff mode), the
firm added another 2,400 people to
the payrolls.
That growth has not gone unnoticed.
In fact, Cognizant ranked 7th on
Forbes Magazine's list of
"Fastest-Growing Tech Companies" and
was recently named one of
BusinessWeek's "50 Top-Performing
Companies." And after a blowout
second quarter earnings report,
management just raised its full-year
outlook and is now forecasting sales
to rise +12% to $3.1 billion.
That's why StreetAuthority editor
Nathan Slaughter has wandered the
globe looking for companies such as
Cognizant that are bringing in cash
during this recession not via
unsustainable cost cuts but by
creating true sales growth. They're
not always easy to find, but in his
latest issue the Half-Priced
Stocks newsletter, Nathan has
identified six companies that are
bringing customers in while most
companies struggle with the
opposite. With three-year revenue
growth rates as high as 73%, these
stocks are outpacing their
competitors by more than a 2-to-1
margin. To learn the names of
Nathan's picks, and to learn more
about Half-Priced Stocks,
please
visit this link.
|