Accenture stock is set to extend its rebound if it stays above the trendline
The global IT giant Accenture (ACN: NYSE) stock price has decreased in the past few months after the company lowered its full fiscal year revenue outlook. This sell-off saw the shares drop to a low of $280. The stock has bounced back to above $300 this week after the professional services firm released third-quarter fiscal 2024 results. The stock jumped almost 10% on Thursday despite the company announcing lower-than-anticipated third-quarter earnings and revenues. As of this writing, the $ACN trades at $307.
Accenture: Q3 earnings snapshot
The company reported earnings per share were 3.13 dollars, marginally below estimates and revenue fell 1% year-on-year to $16.5 billion, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.6 billion. The IT company added another 23 clients with quarterly bookings of over $100 million, bringing the total of such bookings to 92 year-to-date. The company also announced its next quarterly dividend, announcing plans to pay out $1.29 per share on August 15 for shareholders of record on July 11. The company now expects full-year revenue growth of 1.5% to 2.5% in local currency, slightly narrowing the previous range of 1% to 3%.
Accenture’s AI revenue growth contributed significantly to its 10% gain
In the third quarter alone, the company was able to book over 900 million dollars in new orders related to Generative AI, contributing to a total of $2 billion in AI-related bookings for the fiscal year to date. Accenture said that it will work with Amazon Web Services Inc. to develop several new, industry-specific and cross-industry AI offerings, including prebuilt models and training platforms. Last year, Accenture announced a $3 billion investment in its data and AI practice.
“We also achieved two significant milestones this quarter — with $2 billion in Generative AI sales year-to-date and $500 million in revenue year-to-date — which demonstrate our early lead in this critical technology,” Accenture CEO, Julie Sweet said.
Accenture stock price forecast: There is a potential for an advance towards $350/54
Looking at the stock from a very short-term perspective, it is evident that the stock found buyers above the short-term support line. Therefore, If the bulls manage to push the price to stay above the $300 level, the next target will be $322 then $330 (200 SMA). If the bulls uncap this 200 SMA resistance, the $344/45 barrier becomes the next target. After that, additional targets to the upside are seen at the $353/54 price mark. On the downside, if the prices retract towards the ascending trendline again, then this analysis will be invalidated. It will also mean the stock price is likely to continue its recent decline.
