Accenture (ACN) closed at $256.05 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.22% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.43% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.77%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.22%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the consulting company had lost 8.45% lagged the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 2.56% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.65%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Accenture in its upcoming release. On that day, Accenture is projected to report earnings of $2.98 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 6.81%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $17.33 billion, indicating a 5.6% upward movement from the same quarter last year.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $12.88 per share and revenue of $69.41 billion, indicating changes of +7.78% and +6.95%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Accenture. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.
Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 0.04% increase. Right now, Accenture possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In the context of valuation, Accenture is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 20.13. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 16.99.
Investors should also note that ACN has a PEG ratio of 2.36 right now. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Computers - IT Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.14 at yesterday's closing price.
The Computers - IT Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 100, this industry ranks in the top 41% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Accenture PLC (ACN): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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