Accenture (ACN) closed the most recent trading day at $281.07, moving -1.41% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.03% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.58%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.28%.
The consulting company's shares have seen an increase of 5.6% over the last month, surpassing the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 0.43% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.6%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Accenture in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $2.87, reflecting a 1.77% increase from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $17.74 billion, indicating a 6.51% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $13.87 per share and revenue of $73.9 billion. These totals would mark changes of +7.27% and +6.07%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Accenture should also be noted by investors. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the business and profitability.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
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 moved 0.17% higher. Right now, Accenture possesses a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, Accenture currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 20.56. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 17.46, which means Accenture is trading at a premium to the group.
We can also see that ACN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.75. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. As the market closed yesterday, the Computers - IT Services industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.42.
The Computers - IT Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 71, putting it in the top 29% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many 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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