Cognizant stock price has seen relative strength compared to broader IT service peers this month, outperforming the Nasdaq Composite by 2.4%. Institutional buying suggests confidence in management’s dividend growth policy and cost-optimization strategies. “Everybody I knew grew up [being] warned, ‘The big one’s coming,’ ” he said. “We’ve had 11 recessions [but have] never had a big one. Imagine, in the [Great] Depression, they didn’t have Social Security. People when they retired, got older, moved in with their family. The family had to cut back on their spending, and they didn’t have unemployment compensation. We didn’t have the SEC. And we had a Federal Reserve that was asleep, to boot.” With Cognizant shares trading below analyst targets but growth numbers holding steady, the key question now is whether there is real value left for new investors or if the market has already anticipated the company’s next move. Cognizant stock price ticked up following IT sector index gains, hinting at beta-driven momentum. Portfolio managers suggest this is an opportune time for rebalancing toward stable, dividend-paying tech service stocks.