CTSH vs. PS: Cognizant vs. Pershing Square Stock Comparison

Company Profile

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

Cognizant (CTSH) has been public since June 19, 1998, giving it decades of market history across multiple cycles, while Pershing Square (PS) listed only on April 29, 2026 and lacks comparable through-cycle data.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

Pershing Square (PS) carries a highly aggressive beta of 6.25, 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

Both CTSH and PS need 1-year volatility and 1-year return to plot risk-return positioning.

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

Capital efficiency shows on one side only: Cognizant (CTSH) earns 17.37% on shareholders’ equity, ranked against its industry; Pershing Square (PS) has no ROE this period.

Pershing Square (PS) reports a negative net margin of -20.98%, usually indicating a net loss over the period. Meanwhile Cognizant (CTSH) reports 11.75%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Pershing Square (PS) reports a negative operating margin of -35.45%, usually indicating that operating costs exceeded revenue at the operating-income line. Meanwhile Cognizant (CTSH) reports 16.30%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

Pershing Square (PS) at 64.66% delivers above-range revenue growth, while Cognizant (CTSH) at 6.95% falls into the bottom quartile — a wide split in revenue momentum.

Only one side can be read here: Cognizant (CTSH) reports EPS growth of 1.11%, ranked against its industry; Pershing Square (PS) has no EPS growth figure this period.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

Short-term liquidity can only be read on one side of this pairing: Cognizant (CTSH) shows current ratio of 2.22 against its industry benchmark, while Pershing Square (PS) has no reading this period.

Both Cognizant (CTSH) at 0.14 and Pershing Square (PS) at 0.18 fund their balance sheets with roughly industry-typical debt-to-equity mixes.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

Both Cognizant (CTSH) at 1.98% and Pershing Square (PS) at 0.24% yield above their industries’ entire benchmark ranges — high enough that dividend safety, not income, becomes the first question.

Pershing Square (PS) reports a negative payout ratio of -10.99%, usually because earnings are negative; the payout ratio is not a useful dividend-sustainability benchmark in that state. Meanwhile Cognizant (CTSH) reports 23.72%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

An earnings multiple is available for just one side: Cognizant (CTSH) trades at 11.81 times trailing earnings, ranked against its peers, while Pershing Square (PS) has no P/E ratio this period.

Cognizant (CTSH) at 1.32 sits in the cheaper P/S ratio quartile while Pershing Square (PS) at 27.11 prices above its industry range — a wide gap in sales valuation between them.

Cognizant (CTSH) at 1.97 is valued about in line with its industry on P/B ratio, while Pershing Square (PS) at 15.12 carries an above-peer premium to book — PS is pricier on assets.

Valuation Metrics