Accenture Earnings: Double-Digit Growth Earns Investor CHEERS

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) reported its results for the third quarter. Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company.

Investing Insights: Is TV the Next Bullish Catalyst for Apple’s Stock?

Accenture plc Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Net income for Accenture plc rose to $689.2 million ($1.03 per share) vs. $628 million (93 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 9.7% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 6.1% to $7.64 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Accenture plc beat the mean analyst estimate of 99 cents per share. It beat the average revenue estimate of $7.16 billion.

Quoting Management: Pierre Nanterme, Accenture’s chief executive officer, said, “We are pleased with our third-quarter performance. Our revenue growth in local currency was broad-based across all five operating groups and all three geographic regions, with particularly strong growth in outsourcing revenues. Quarterly new bookings of $7.3 billion took us to $23 billion for the first three quarters of the year, positioning us very well to achieve our annual outlook. Our balance sheet remains very strong, with a cash balance of $5.6 billion.

Key Stats:

Last quarter marked the fifth straight quarter that the company saw shrinking gross margins, as gross margin fell one percentage points to 31% from the year-earlier quarter. In that span, margins have contracted an average of 0.6 percentage point per quarter on a year-over-year basis.

The company has now seen its net income increase for three consecutive quarters. In the second quarter, net income rose 28% and in the first quarter, the figure rose 20.1%.

The company has now surpassed analyst estimates for four quarters in a row. It beat the mark by 11 cents in the second quarter, by 2 cents in the first quarter, and by 2 cents in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.

Revenue has risen for the last four quarters. Revenue increased 11.8% to $7.26 billion in the second quarter. The figure rose 17.1% in the first quarter from the year earlier and climbed 23% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter.

Looking Forward: Analysts appear increasingly negative about the company’s results for the next quarter. The average estimate for the fourth quarter has moved down from 96 cents a share to 95 cents over the last sixty days. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved down from $3.87 a share to $3.86 over the last sixty days.

(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

Don’t Miss These Additional Hot Stories:

Will Facebook Rally Stick Around?

Can Orbitiz SQUEEZE More Blood from These Rocks?

Amazon is KILLING These Retailers>>