Accenture Beats on Both Top and Bottom Lines

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Accenture (NYS: ACN) reported earnings yesterday. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Feb. 29 (Q2), Accenture beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew significantly, and GAAP earnings per share increased significantly.


Gross margins dropped, operating margins increased, and net margins improved.

Revenue details
Accenture booked revenue of $7.26 billion. The 18 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected sales of $6.66 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 12% higher than the prior-year quarter's $6.50 billion.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.97. The 21 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $0.86 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.97 for Q2 were 29% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.75 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 29.2%, 30 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 12.3%, 40 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 8.9%, 120 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $7.11 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $1.00.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $28.27 billion. The average EPS estimate is $3.84.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,256 members rating the stock outperform and 62 members rating it underperform. Among 393 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 382 give Accenture a green thumbs-up, and 11 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Accenture is outperform, with an average price target of $62.03.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Accenture. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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