Accenture plc’s (ACN Quick QuoteACN - Free Report) wholly owned subsidiary, Accenture Federal Services (“AFS”), today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire advanced analytics company Novetta. Financial terms have been kept under wraps.

Novetta’s 1,300 employees, including data scientists, software developers and specialists in AI, machine learning, cloud, cyber and software exploitation, will join forces with their 10,500 AFS counterparts to work on programs that are expected to improve federal clients’ performance in the digital domain.

How Will Accenture Benefit?

Addition of Novetta is expected to expand Accenture’s digital capabilities and add quality to its work in the national security sector with the help of machine learning, cloud engineering and cybersecurity.

"By joining forces, we will help clients in all government sectors become leaders in using sophisticated analytics and emerging technologies to solve problems in new ways and transform how they meet their missions," said AFS CEO John Goodman.

Notably, Accenture shares have gained 35.5% over the past year, underperforming the 36.8% growth of the Zacks S&P 500 composite and the 37.7% rally of the industry it belongs to.

Accenture PLC Price

Accenture PLC price | Accenture PLC Quote

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Accenture currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector are Genpact (G Quick QuoteG - Free Report) , Equifax (EFX Quick QuoteEFX - Free Report) and TransUnion (TRU Quick QuoteTRU - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

The long-term expected earnings per share (three to five years) growth rate for Genpact, Equifax and TransUnion is 12.8%, 14% and 20.9%, respectively.

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