Accenture (ACN) closed the most recent trading day at $319.79, moving -0.12% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500’s 0.25% gain on the day.
Prior to today’s trading, shares of the consulting company had gained 2.41% over the past month. This has outpaced the Business Services sector’s loss of 1.66% and the S&P 500’s gain of 1.65% in that time.
ACN will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be September 23, 2021. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.19, up 28.82% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $13.48 billion, up 24.42% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $8.79 per share and revenue of $50.58 billion, which would represent changes of +17.83% and +14.1%, respectively, from the prior year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for ACN. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company’s business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. ACN currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Digging into valuation, ACN currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 36.42. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E of 22.67.
We can also see that ACN currently has a PEG ratio of 3.64. 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. ACN’s industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.45 as of yesterday’s close.
The Consulting Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 37, putting it in the top 15% 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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