Accenture’s revenue jumps 4% in the fiscal first quarter

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) published its earnings report for the fiscal first quarter on Thursday that came in better than expected. On the back of hawkish performance, the American-Irish company also raised its guidance for the future on Thursday.

Shares of the company were reported more than 6% up in premarket trading on Thursday. Accenture gained another 2% on market open. Including the price action, the stock is now more than 25% up year to date after a massive 85% growth since March, when the impact of the COVID-19 crisis was at its peak.

The Fortune Global 500 company’s per-share price touched an all-time high of £198.25 on Thursday.

Accenture’s Q1 financial results versus analysts’ estimates

Accenture said that its net income in the quarter that concluded on 30^th November, printed at £1.10 billion that translates to £1.70 per share. In the comparable quarter of last year, its net income was capped at a lower £1.0 billion or £1.53 per share. Accenture named Christie Smith as a senior managing director earlier this week.

Adjusted for one-time items, the consulting services company earned £1.59 per share in the recent quarter versus the year-ago figure of £1.48 per share. In terms of revenue, Accenture reported £8.64 billion in the first quarter that represents a 4% annualised growth. In separate news from the United States, General Mills said it topped Wall Street estimates in the fiscal second quarter on Thursday.

According to FactSet, experts had forecast the company to post a lower £8.28 billion of revenue in Q1. Their estimate for per-share earnings was capped at £1.48. At £9.47 billion, new bookings registered a year over year growth of 25% in the recent quarter. Accenture valued its share repurchase at £564.78 million (3.3 million shares) in Q1.

Accenture’s guidance for the fiscal second quarter

For the fiscal second quarter, the Dublin-headquartered company said it now expects its revenue in the range of £8.48 billion to £8.78 billion. In comparison, FactSet Consensus for its revenue in Q2 stands at £8.37 billion. Accenture also raised its guidance for annual growth in revenue to up to 6% on Thursday.

Accenture performed largely upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of roughly 50%. At the time of writing, the professional services company is valued at £128.78 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 33.59.