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Accenture (ACN) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Accenture (ACN - Free Report) closed at $158.58 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.61% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.65%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.79%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.01%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the consulting company had lost 9.49% over the past month. This has lagged the Business Services sector's loss of 8.44% and the S&P 500's loss of 6.82% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from ACN as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be December 20, 2018. In that report, analysts expect ACN to post earnings of $1.84 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 2.79%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $10.47 billion, up 9.97% from the year-ago period.

ACN's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.21 per share and revenue of $42.72 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +6.97% and +7.96%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for ACN. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.06% lower. ACN is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note ACN's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 21.87. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 20.63.

Also, we should mention that ACN has a PEG ratio of 2.12. 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. The Consulting Services was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.03 at yesterday's closing price.

The Consulting Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 100, putting it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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