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Accenture (ACN) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Accenture (ACN - Free Report) closed at $290.60 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.96% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.54% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 1.45%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.16%.

Heading into today, shares of the consulting company had gained 3% over the past month, lagging the Business Services sector's gain of 5.62% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.54% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Accenture as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be December 16, 2022. In that report, analysts expect Accenture to post earnings of $2.91 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 4.68%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $15.58 billion, up 4.12% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $11.34 per share and revenue of $64.24 billion. These totals would mark changes of +5.88% and +4.3%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Accenture should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Accenture is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Investors should also note Accenture's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 26.13. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 23.37, which means Accenture is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that ACN has a PEG ratio of 2.75. 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 Consulting Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.41 at yesterday's closing price.

The Consulting Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 38, which puts it in the top 16% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the 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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