Accenture (ACN) Beats Stock Market Upswing: What Investors Need to Know

Accenture (ACN) closed the most recent trading day at $175.72, moving +2.69% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.62%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.28%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1.3%.

The consulting company's shares have seen an increase of 23.05% over the last month, surpassing the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 0.09% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.3%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Accenture in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $3.19, signifying a 5.28% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $18.01 billion, up 2.36% from the prior-year quarter.

For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $13.85 per share and a revenue of $73.54 billion, representing changes of +7.12% and +5.55%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Accenture. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health 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, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Accenture currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Accenture has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.36 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.21, which means Accenture is trading at a discount to the group.

We can additionally observe that ACN currently boasts a PEG ratio of 1.77. 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 Computers - IT Services industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.14 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Computers - IT Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 156, positioning it in the bottom 37% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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