Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (CTSH), and America’s Third Best CEO Could Give You an Investing Edge

Take a quick look at where these three companies get their revenue.

Source: SEC filings. Wipro numbers are for all of “Americas,” not just North America.

What might look like a weakness for Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ:CTSH) — in that its clients are mainly centered in one region — has been a strength over the past few years, as North American economies have recovered from the Great Recession much quicker than other regions of the world (Europe especially).

A leader to take the company global
But as you might guess, remaining focused solely on North America could eventually become a weakness, when other economies start heating up in other spots. That’s where CEO Francisco D’Souza comes in. D’Souza has been leading Cognizant since 2007, and has worked for the company since 1996 — first as a consultant himself, then as an employee.

Instead of focusing too heavily on Europe or Asia, D’Souza is zeroing in on Brazil. As Foolish colleague Ketih Speights pointed out in August, “During the company’s earnings call, D’Souza noted that Cognizant won several new clients in Brazil after establishing a strong local leadership team and building out a local delivery center.”

While this focus on international growth is good to see, there are likely other reasons why D’Souza’s employees give him a 96% approval rating. Most notably is his focus on collaboration and autonomy. In an interview with Spencer Stuart, D’Souza said: “The competencies that the firm is going to have to learn [to] pivot around [is] collaboration internally — so-called boundary-less thinking. We’ve been very successful up until now building the company based on very empowered business units, where we’ve got folks who think of themselves as ‘CEOs’ of business units.”

When employees feel valued, autonomous, and are encouraged to collaborate with one another, good things happen.  That probably helps explain one of the reasons shares of Cognizant have returned over 300% since the market bottom in March of 2009, far outpacing the S&P 500.

The article America’s 3rd Best CEO Could Give You an Investing Edge originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Brian Stoffel has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Accenture and Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM).

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