Accenture plc beats Wall Street estimates in the fiscal second quarter

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) reported its financial results for the fiscal second quarter on Thursday that beat Wall Street estimates. On the back of its hawkish quarterly performance, the company raised its guidance for the full year.

Accenture shares were reported about 3.5% up in premarket trading on Thursday. Including the price action, the stock is now trading at a per-share price of £198.57 after recovering from a low of £103.08 in the last week of March 2020. In comparison, the consulting and processing services provider had started the year 2021 at £183.98 per share.

Accenture’s Q2 financial results versus analysts’ estimates

Accenture said that its net income in the second quarter came in at £1.03 billion that translates to £1.60 per share. In the same quarter last year, its net income was capped at a lower £890 million, or £1.37 per share.

Adjusted for one-time items, the Irish multinational firm earned £1.46 per share in Q2. Accenture generated £8.67 billion of revenue in the recent quarter that represents an 8.5% annualised growth. The NYSE-listed firm noted a 13% increase in new bookings to £11.48 billion.

According to FactSet, experts had forecast the company to post £8.47 billion of revenue in the second quarter. Their estimate for adjusted per-share earnings stood at a lower £1.36. In the prior quarter (Q1), Accenture had registered a 4% year over year increase in its revenue, as per the report published in December.

Accenture’s guidance for fiscal 2021

For fiscal 2021, Accenture now forecasts its adjusted per-share earnings to fall in the range of £5.97 per share to £6.10 per share. It expects its revenue to jump by up to 8.5% this year. In separate news from the United States, the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewellery, Signet Jewellers, reported better than expected quarterly earnings on Thursday.

As per Accenture, it intends to return £4.16 billion this year to its shareholders via dividend payments and stock repurchases. The Dublin-headquartered company also said on Thursday that below managing director, its employees will receive a non-recurring bonus worth one week of their respective base salaries.

Accenture performed fairly upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of close to 25%. At the time of writing, the Fortune Global 500 company has a market cap of £125.34 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 32.39.