Accenture (ACN) Dips More Than Broader Market: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Accenture (ACN) closed at $169.98, marking a -3.91% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.52%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.51%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.32%.

Coming into today, shares of the consulting company had gained 23.21% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 1.99%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.3%.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Accenture in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $3.19, showcasing a 5.28% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $18.01 billion, up 2.36% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $13.85 per share and revenue of $73.54 billion. These totals would mark changes of +7.12% and +5.55%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates 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 business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational 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 last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. Accenture is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, Accenture currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.77. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 13.9.

It's also important to note that ACN currently trades at a PEG ratio of 1.83. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Computers - IT Services industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.2 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Computers - IT Services industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 79, finds itself in the top 33% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within 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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