Accenture (ACN) closed at $250.77 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.26% move from the prior day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.23%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.72%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.86%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the consulting company had gained 3.63% outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 3.49% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.45%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Accenture in its upcoming earnings disclosure. In that report, analysts expect Accenture to post earnings of $3.74 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 4.18%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $18.56 billion, indicating a 4.93% upward movement from the same quarter last year.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $13.78 per share and a revenue of $73.82 billion, representing changes of +6.57% and +5.96%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Accenture. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 1.19% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. 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 17.97. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 16.65.
It is also worth noting that ACN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.16. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Computers - IT Services industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.82 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Computers - IT Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 59, this industry ranks in the top 24% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Accenture PLC (ACN): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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