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

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In the latest trading session, Accenture (ACN - Free Report) closed at $286.76, marking a +1.16% move from the previous day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.83%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.4%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.09%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the consulting company had lost 8.5% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Business Services sector's loss of 12.17% and lagged the S&P 500's loss of 5.51% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Accenture as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be September 22, 2022. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.57, up 16.82% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $15.45 billion, up 15.11% from the prior-year quarter.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Accenture. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Accenture is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Accenture has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.72 right now. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 20.51.

We can also see that ACN currently has a PEG ratio of 2.37. 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. ACN's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.38 as of yesterday's close.

The Consulting Services industry is part of the Business Services sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 32, which puts it in the top 13% 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.

To follow ACN in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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