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Accenture (ACN) Stock Moves -0.5%: What You Should Know

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The most recent trading session ended with Accenture (ACN - Free Report) standing at $344.82, reflecting a -0.5% shift from the previouse trading day's closing. The stock's performance was ahead of the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.86%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.9%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 2.76%.

Coming into today, shares of the consulting company had lost 2.73% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 3.02%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.01%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Accenture in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $3.39, signifying a 3.67% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $17.21 billion, indicating a 6.09% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $12.77 per share and a revenue of $69.02 billion, demonstrating changes of +6.86% and +6.36%, respectively, from the preceding year.

Furthermore, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor any recent shifts in analyst projections for Accenture. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the company's business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.04% upward. At present, Accenture boasts a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Digging into valuation, Accenture currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 27.14. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 28.37 for its industry.

We can also see that ACN currently has a PEG ratio of 3.03. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Computers - IT Services industry held an average PEG ratio of 2.78.

The Computers - IT Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 46, this industry ranks in the top 19% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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