Yahoo Finance Accenture (ACN) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Accenture (ACN) closed at $360.70, marking a -0.72% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.17%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.55%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.44%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the consulting company had gained 1.92% over the past month. This has outpaced the Business Services sector's loss of 5.08% and lagged the S&P 500's gain of 3.19% in that time.
Accenture will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be December 16, 2021. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.62, up 20.74% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $14.21 billion, up 20.8% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $10.12 per share and revenue of $57.4 billion. These totals would mark changes of +15% and +13.59%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to 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 company's business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Accenture is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note Accenture's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 35.89. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 22.64.
Meanwhile, ACN's PEG ratio is currently 3.59. 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 Consulting Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.34 at yesterday's closing price.
The Consulting Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 20, which puts it in the top 8% 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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