Here's Why Accenture (ACN) Gained But Lagged the Market Today
Accenture (ACN) closed the latest trading day at $371.51, indicating a +0.14% change from the previous session's end. The stock fell short of the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.58% for the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.91%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.3%.
Coming into today, shares of the consulting company had gained 4.9% in the past month. In that same time, the Business Services sector gained 7.73%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.61%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Accenture in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on March 21, 2024. On that day, Accenture is projected to report earnings of $2.65 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 1.49%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $15.84 billion, indicating a 0.15% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $12.22 per share and a revenue of $66.22 billion, demonstrating changes of +4.71% and +3.29%, respectively, from the preceding year.
Furthermore, it would be beneficial for investors to monitor any recent shifts in analyst projections for Accenture. 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.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained steady. At present, Accenture boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In the context of valuation, Accenture is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 30.37. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.61.
We can additionally observe that ACN currently boasts a PEG ratio of 3.41. 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 1.33 at yesterday's closing price.
The Consulting Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 197, this industry ranks in the bottom 22% of all industries, numbering over 250.
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 use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions.
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Accenture PLC (ACN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
