APP vs. CTSH: AppLovin vs. Cognizant Stock Comparison

Company Profile

AppLovin (APP) and Cognizant (CTSH) both fall under the Software & Services industry group, but APP is classified in Software while CTSH is classified in IT Services.

Cognizant (CTSH) has more than two decades of public-market history since June 19, 1998, whereas AppLovin (APP) listed on April 15, 2021 and has a much shorter record to draw on.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

AppLovin (APP) carries a highly aggressive beta of 2.25, indicating much higher sensitivity to broad-market moves, whereas Cognizant (CTSH) is closer to market-like at 0.83 — a noticeable difference in market-sensitivity profile.

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

AppLovin (APP) at 210.09% clears its industry range for ROE, a sharper capital-efficiency signal than Cognizant (CTSH) at 17.37%, which is closer to a typical peer reading.

AppLovin (APP) at 65.89% converts revenue to bottom-line profit above its industry’s benchmark range, while Cognizant (CTSH) at 11.75% keeps roughly the typical share for its industry.

AppLovin (APP) at 78.22% turns sales into operating profit above its industry’s benchmark range, while Cognizant (CTSH) at 16.30% operates around its industry’s norm.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

AppLovin (APP) at 69.99% delivers above-range revenue growth, while Cognizant (CTSH) at 6.95% falls into the bottom quartile — a wide split in revenue momentum.

AppLovin (APP) at 115.23% sits in the top EPS growth quartile, while Cognizant (CTSH) at 1.11% is closer to the peer norm — faster per-share earnings growth for APP.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

Cognizant (CTSH) at 2.22 keeps current ratio within its industry’s typical mid-range, while AppLovin (APP) at 3.81 sits above its industry’s typical mid-range — comfortable liquidity, though possibly with more idle current assets relative to peers.

Both AppLovin (APP) at 1.07 and Cognizant (CTSH) at 0.14 fund their balance sheets with roughly industry-typical debt-to-equity mixes.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

AppLovin (APP) pays no dividend (yield 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile Cognizant (CTSH) reports a yield of 1.98%, ranking against industry peers normally.

AppLovin (APP) pays no dividend (payout 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile Cognizant (CTSH) reports a payout of 23.72%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

Cognizant (CTSH) at 11.81 sits in the cheaper P/E ratio quartile, while AppLovin (APP) at 26.34 is closer to its industry’s usual earnings multiple — a discount for CTSH, though growth and earnings durability still matter.

Cognizant (CTSH) at 1.32 looks cheap on sales in the lower P/S ratio quartile, while AppLovin (APP) at 17.04 looks rich in the upper quartile — a clear gap in price per dollar of revenue.

Cognizant (CTSH) at 1.97 sits near its industry’s typical P/B ratio, while AppLovin (APP) at 39.29 prices above its benchmark range — APP looks rich relative to book.

Valuation Metrics