Accenture (ACN) to Gain From Cirrus Acquisition: Here's How
Accenture plcACN has completed the acquisition of Cirrus, a leadership and talent consultancy headquartered in the U.K. Financial terms of the deal have been kept under wraps.
Founded by Dr. Simon Hayward in 2010, Cirrus combines leadership, talent and engagement expertise to assess and develop leaders. The company has expertise in delivering business outcomes through leadership and team development solutions run via virtual, face-to-face and digital channels. It has 70 employees in the U.K. and Australia who serve global clients.
Notably, this is the third company acquired by Accenture in the U.K. this year. The previous ones being independent SAP partner, Edenhouse, and cloud and digital transformation consultancy, Infinity Works, both completed in February.
Over the past year, shares of Accenture have gained 41.7% compared with 41% rise of the industry it belongs to and 32.2% growth of the Zacks S&P 500 composite.
How Will Accenture Benefit?
The acquisition marks the merging of Cirrus into Accenture’s Talent & Organization/Human Potential team. This should boost its development and coaching capabilities for leaders who look out for business transformation. Notably, Cirrus’ digital learning capabilities are likely to help Accenture by supporting clients’ C-suite transformations.
Christie Smith, global lead for Talent & Organization / Human Potential at Accenture, stated, "Our clients look to us for guidance and innovation alongside them in their transformation journeys, especially during times of change. By acquiring Cirrus, we can deliver leadership and talent development programs to serve them at a greater pace and scale."
Diana Barea, managing director, Talent & Organisation, Accenture U.K. & Ireland, stated, "In times of constant change, leadership in delivering successful cloud, platform and other critical business transformations is more important than ever. Cirrus will help our clients unleash their ingenuity as they lead through change."
Further, Cirrus complements Accenture’s Talent & Organization/Human Potential’s latest acquisitions - Future State in February and Kates Kesler in 2020, aimed at increasing client offerings.
Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider
Accenture currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector are ManpowerGroup MAN, Huron Consulting HURN and NV5 Global NVEE, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The long-term expected earnings per share (three to five years) growth rate for ManpowerGroup, Huron Consulting and NV5 Global is 3.5%, 14% and 16.8%, respectively.
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Accenture PLC (ACN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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