Accenture Shares Gains 8% Since Q2 Beat

UBS analysts upgraded Accenture (NYSE:ACN) to Buy from Neutral, setting a new price target of $400 on the stock.

The analysts highlighted the potential for multiple expansion as the market begins to anticipate accelerated revenue growth driven by AI opportunities. While there are concerns about the pace of IT spending, the analysts believe Accenture's shift towards cloud services, digital transformation, cybersecurity, and now Generative AI will support higher and more sustainable growth.

The analysts’ evaluation of Accenture's top 10 alliance partners indicates a positive trend for revenue acceleration over the next year. They noted that the current stock price does not fully reflect the potential of Generative AI, with Accenture already securing approximately $2 billion in GenAI bookings by Q3/24, compared to $300 million in the fiscal year ending August 2023.

Additionally, the analysts expect GenAI adoption to accelerate as clients recognize the value from initial experimentation, potentially scaling even faster than Accenture's cloud business, which grew from $1 billion in revenue in 2012 to $32 billion, representing about 50% of total revenue in 2023.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) is gearing up for its quarterly earnings report on Thursday, June 20, 2024, before the market opens. With Wall Street setting its sights on an earnings per share (EPS) of 3.14 and revenue estimates hovering around $16.57 billion, the spotlight is on Accenture's financial performance. As a leading global professional services company, Accenture offers a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology, and operations. It operates in a competitive landscape, going head-to-head with other consulting giants and technology service providers. The upcoming earnings report is crucial as it provides insights into the company's operational efficiency and market position.

Despite Accenture's impressive track record of surpassing earnings expectations in the past four quarters, with an average beat of 4.9%, the current forecast suggests a tempered outlook. Analysts predict a slight year-over-year decline in both revenues and earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2024. The anticipated revenue is pegged at $16.5 billion, a marginal decrease from the previous year, attributed to reduced spending in key sectors such as software and platforms, communications, media, and banking. This scenario underscores the challenges Accenture faces amidst shifting market dynamics and client spending behaviors.

However, not all is bleak for Accenture. The Managed Services segment is expected to shine, with revenues projected to hit $8.2 billion, marking a 4.6% increase from the previous year. This growth is partly fueled by the effective deployment of Accenture's SynOps platform, highlighting the company's ability to innovate and adapt to changing market needs. Such performance in the Managed Services segment could offset the downturns in other areas, underscoring the importance of diversification in Accenture's business model.

The financial community closely watches earnings revisions, as they can significantly impact a stock's short-term movements. In Accenture's case, analysts have revised their consensus EPS estimate downward by 0.6% over the last 30 days. This adjustment reflects a cautious stance on the company's financial outlook for the quarter ended May 2024. Historical trends suggest that the direction of earnings estimate revisions can influence stock performance leading up to the earnings announcement, making it a critical factor for investors to monitor.

Accenture's valuation metrics, such as the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of approximately 25.54 and the price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of about 2.78, offer insights into how investors view the company's earnings potential and overall value. These ratios, along with the enterprise value to sales (EV/Sales) and the enterprise value to operating cash flow (EV/OCF), provide a comprehensive picture of Accenture's financial health and market position. With a low debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio and a solid current ratio, Accenture demonstrates financial stability and resilience, key attributes that investors consider when assessing the company's long-term growth prospects.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) experienced a 6% drop in its stock price intra-day today after the company adjusted its revenue growth expectations for the fiscal year 2024 downward. In its Q2, Accenture reported an earnings per share of $2.77, which was higher than the anticipated $2.66 by analysts. However, its revenue of $15.8 billion was just shy of the $15.84 billion forecast.

For the upcoming Q3, Accenture projects its revenues to range between $16.25 billion and $16.85 billion.

For the fiscal year 2024, Accenture has revised its expected revenue growth to between 1% and 3% in local currency, down from the earlier projection of 2% to 5%.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) shares dropped more than 5% intra-day today after the company released its Q4 results and provided guidance for its full fiscal year.

The company reported an EPS of $2.71, surpassing the Street estimate of $2.66. However, the revenue for the quarter came in slightly below expectations at $15.99 billion, compared to the Street estimate of $16.07 billion.

Looking forward, Accenture offered guidance for 2024, projecting an EPS range of $11.97 to $12.32. This is slightly lower than the Street forecast of $12.46. Additionally, for fiscal year 2024, Accenture anticipates revenue growth in the range of 2% to 5%.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2024, the company expects revenues to fall within the range of $15.85 billion to $16.45 billion.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) reported its Q3 earnings results yesterday, with EPS of $3.19 coming in better than the Street estimate of $3.01. Revenue was $16.6 billion, beating the Street estimate of $16.49 billion.

Management noted continued pressure on revenue and bookings from smaller deals, especially in Strategy & Consulting, systems integration work and Communications, Media & Technology. New bookings increased 2% year-over-year on a reported basis, and increased 4% in local currency to $22.1B in Q3 for a book-to-bill ratio of 1x.

For Q4/23, the company expects revenue to be in the range of $15.75-$16.35 billion, compared to the Street estimate of $16.35 billion. For the full year, the company sees EPS in the range of $11.52-$11.63, compared to the Street estimate of $11.60.

Deutsche Bank analysts provided their outlook on Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) ahead of Q1/23 results, expected to be announced on Dec 16.

The analysts expect the company to deliver Q1 revenues of $15.492 billion and EPS of $2.92 as it benefits from IT services demand and accelerated investments in Cloud, Industry X, Song and Security.

The analysts view the company as the gold standard among IT Services companies and do not believe it has seen any material weakness to date.

The analysts expect the company to guide to Q2/23 revenue growth of 7-11% and conservatively reiterate its 2023 revenue guidance of 8-11%.