This Tech Stock Is Soaring After Takeover Deal. How It Changes the AI Picture.

Capgemini has agreed to buy business process-management technology provider WNS for $3.3 billion. (Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

WNS stock was soaring early Monday after French consulting group Capgemini agreed to buy the business technology provider for $3.3 billion in cash.

Shares in WNS jumped 14% to $74.60 in early trading. Capgemini’s Paris-listed stock fell 5.7%. The benchmark S&P 500 was 0.3% lower as investors fretted about a looming U.S. trade deal deadline.

Capgemini said Monday that it was offering $76.50 per WNS share, a 17% premium to the stock’s price as of Thursday’s closing bell. U.S. markets were shut on Friday for Independence Day.

Capgemini expects to close the deal by the end of the year. It believes the transaction will boost its earnings per share by 4% before synergies in 2026, and by 7% post-synergies in 2027.

The deal comes at a time when big consultancy firms are splashing the cash in an artificial-intelligence arms race. WNS provides what’s known as agentic AI, referring to systems that can make decisions and perform tasks with minimal human intervention.

Tech bosses and Wall Street analysts alike have pinpointed AI agents as the next big thing in the field, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang calling the systems “game-changing” on an earnings call in May.

E-commerce retailer Amazon.com and online travel company Booking Holdings are among the stocks that could benefit from the rise of agentic AI, BofA Securities analyst Justin Post said in a research note last month.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com