Friday, March 25, 2011

Accenture (ACN) Roars on Strong Guidance

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) shares soared in after-hours trading as the generated a strong second quarter and gave solid guidance going forward.

The company also declared a semi-annual cash dividend of 45 cents a share.

Accenture said it earned $557.6 million, or 75 cents a share, in the latest quarter on revenue net of reimbursements of $6.05 billion. That performance was ahead of last year's equivalent profit of $458.2 million, or 60 cents a share, and topped the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for earnings of 71 cents a share in the February period on revenue of $5.74 billion.

For fiscal 2011, Accenture now sees earnings of $3.22 to $3.30 a share, up from both its previous projection of a range of $3.08 to $3.16 a share, and the current consensus view for a profit of $3.14 a share in the period. The company expects revenue to rise between 11-14% for the year vs. a prior target of 8-11%. It sees revenue for its fiscal third quarter ending in May coming in between $6.3 billion and $6.5 billion.

"With quarterly bookings of $7 billion, including our second-highest consulting bookings ever, demand for our services remains strong, and our growth trajectory demonstrates that we continue to execute our business strategy extremely well," said Pierre Nanterme, the company's chief executive officer. "We remain focused on growing market share and, as always, on delivering value to our clients as well as our shareholders."

Accenture closed Thursday at $51.96, gaining $1.29, or 2.55 percent. As of 8:00 PM, they traded at 54.73, rising another $2.77, or 5.33 percent.





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