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Accenture Teams Up With Malong for Computer Vision Abilities

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Accenture plc (ACN - Free Report) yesterday announced its strategic partnership with and minority investment in China-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Malong Technologies. Established in 2014, Malong is a computer vision technology provider.

Malong has developed ProductAI — a product recognition and auto-tagging technology — which provides application programming interface (APIs) and embedded systems for visual product recognition.

The alliance has been established through Accenture Ventures that focusses on partnering with and investing in growing companies that develop and deploy innovative enterprise technologies. This is Accenture Ventures’ first investment in China.

We observe that shares of Accenture have gained 23.6% over the past year, outperforming the S&P 500’s 15.6% rally.

Alliance Offerings and Accenture’s Benefits

Accenture is now the preferred systems integrator and consulting partner of Malong. The company’s  Applied Intelligence practice and Malong will jointly develop and offer computer vision and product recognition-based solutions to clients across the world.

Accenture PLC Revenue (TTM)

In view of the significant commercial opportunity available in the field of AI, we believe that the collaboration is a prudent move by Accenture which is trying to strengthen its AI presence in China.

Wei Zhu, chairman of Accenture Greater China, stated, “China is fast becoming a global hub for innovation, particularly in the field of AI. With Malong Technologies, we have gained a partner that adds significant value to our Applied Intelligence portfolio and underscores our goal of becoming a key enabler for AI innovation in Asia and beyond.”

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Accenture has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the broader Business Services sector include Heidrick & Struggles International (HSII - Free Report) , Insperity (NSP - Free Report) and BG Staffing (BGSF - Free Report) . While Heidrick & Struggles sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Insperity and BG Staffing carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The long-term expected earnings per share growth rate for Heidrick & Struggles, Insperity and BG Staffing is 13.5%, 18% and 20%, respectively.

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