Yahoo Finance Accenture (ACN) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Accenture (ACN) closed at $287.59, marking a +0.03% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.25% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.26%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.54%.
Heading into today, shares of the consulting company had lost 12.16% over the past month, outpacing the Business Services sector's loss of 14.15% and lagging the S&P 500's loss of 11.03% in that time.
Accenture will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be June 23, 2022. In that report, analysts expect Accenture to post earnings of $2.84 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 18.33%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $16.06 billion, up 21.12% from the year-ago period.
ACN's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $10.80 per share and revenue of $62.08 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +22.73% and +22.85%, respectively.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Accenture. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
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. Accenture currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note Accenture's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 26.62. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.68.
We can also see that ACN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.66. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Consulting Services stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.28 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Consulting Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 49, which puts it in the top 20% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. 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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