Cognizant Technology Solutions has reported a net income of $240.1 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 (Q4 for the company), as against $206.2 million for the corresponding period in 2010. Revenue was up 26.9 per cent to $1.66 billion. For 2011, the company reported $6.12-billion revenue (up 33.3 per cent) with $883.6 million income.

India’s No. 3 software company has expanded its senior management team to propel future growth opportunities. Chief executive officer, Francisco D’Souza ceases to be president of the company and would focus on emerging business areas including mobility and cloud.

Cognizant veterans Gordon Coburn, Rajeev Mehta and R Chandra Sekaran will be responsible for the day-to-day operations. Coburn has been promoted as president; Sekaran has been elevated to group chief executive — technology and operations, and Mehta would henceforth be group chief executive —industries and markets. While Karen McLoughlin has been promoted as chief financial officer, Malcolm Frank has been made executive vice president – strategy and marketing.

The company that overtook Wipro (in terms of revenue) a couple of quarters ago continues to be close on Infosys’ heels. Revenue gap between Infosys and Cognizant remains at about $140 million (for Q3 and Q4). However, the latter has brought down the difference by about half in a matter of a year.

But, Infosys may stay ahead for a couple of more quarters. It has guided revenue in the range of $1.8 billion to $1.81 billion for the January-March quarter. Cognizant, on the other hand, has guided to only $1.7 billion, which amounts to at least 2.2 per cent sequential growth. Meanwhile, Cognizant would continue to stay ahead of Wipro as the revenue difference keeps widening (over 150 million in Q4).

Cognizant expects full year 2012 revenue to be at least $7.73 billion, up about 23 per cent compared to 2011. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) is expected to be at least $3.43 on GAAP basis and $3.69 on non-GAAP basis, which excludes $0.26 of estimated stock-based compensation expense. EPS guidance excludes the impact of any non-operating foreign currency exchange gains or losses.

Cognizant has also been improving its operating metrics. While its operating margin was 20.5 per cent, slightly higher than its targeted range of 19 per cent to 20 per cent, attrition was just over 10 per cent, the lowest in the industry in Q4. TCS reported 12.8 per cent and Infosys had 15.4-per cent churn. The two companies made 11,981 and 3,266 net employee additions during the quarter ended December 31, 2011.

Gordon Coburn, president of Cognizant, said during the company’s earnings call: “We made a net headcount addition of 7,300 during the quarter. Fifty-six per cent of gross additions for the quarter were direct college hires, while 44 per cent were experienced professionals. We ended the quarter with over 1,37,700 employees globally. During 2011, we added over 33,700 employees worldwide. One of our goals for 2011 was to achieve an improved balance between college hires and lateral hires. We are pleased to report that we were successful in achieving this goal — with 48 per cent of our 2011 hires coming from campus.”