2006 price change: +59.1 percent

Rapid growth has propelled the shares of this IT services provider, which joined the S&P 500 this year. The company offers services like business process outsourcing and network management to corporate clients from centers mostly located in India. Analysts expect revenue to grow 58 percent this year, to about $1.4 billion.

2007 outlook: Cognizant’s red-hot growth shows few signs of slowing. It was ranked on Fortune’s list of 100 Fastest-Growing Companies for the fourth straight year. The outsourcing industry also keeps booming. Thirty percent of professional IT service jobs will be delivered from emerging markets like India and China by 2015, according to market research firm Gartner.