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Accenture (ACN) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Accenture (ACN - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $311.48, moving +0.89% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.93% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.56%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.71%.

Coming into today, shares of the consulting company had gained 11.38% in the past month. In that same time, the Business Services sector gained 2.67%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.61%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Accenture as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be June 22, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Accenture to post earnings of $2.95 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 5.73%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $16.48 billion, up 2% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $11.58 per share and revenue of $64.34 billion, which would represent changes of +8.12% and +4.46%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Accenture. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable 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 past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.04% lower. Accenture is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Accenture's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 26.67. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 21.15, so we one might conclude that Accenture is trading at a premium comparatively.

Also, we should mention that ACN has a PEG ratio of 2.81. 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. ACN's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.56 as of yesterday's close.

The Consulting Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 83, putting it in the top 33% 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.

To follow ACN in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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