Accenture Brushes Off AI Disruption Fears to Post Strong Earnings. The Stock Soars.

Accenture stock rises after the company posts stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings. (Dreamstime)

Key Points

• Accenture trades higher after the company reports better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter.
• The company reports fourth-quarter revenue of $18.7 billion and adjusted earnings of $3.29 a share, beating analysts’ estimates.
• For fiscal 2027, Accenture expects revenue growth and adjusted earnings to increase in a range of 3% to 6% in local currency.

Shares of Accenture rose sharply after the consulting company reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings, brushing off mounting concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt the consulting world.

Revenue for the quarter totaled $18.7 billion, beating analysts’ estimates of $18.03 billion. Adjusted earnings of $3.29 a share also topped Wall Street’s calls for $3.18.

Net bookings rose to $22.2 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter, up 5% in local currency. CEO Julie Sweet said Accenture had reached a new high of 141 quarterly client bookings of $100 million or more.

Accenture stock jumped 17% to $216.21 in premarket trading Thursday. Shares had rallied ahead of earnings, closing up 3.5% at $183.37 Wednesday.

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Accenture outlined its guidance for fiscal 2027, expecting revenue growth range of 3% to 6% in local currency. The company also expects adjusted earnings to increase between 3% and 6% during that same period.

Adjusted earnings of $13.97 a share for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, beat Wall Street’s consensus projections for $13.86. Revenue in the period totaled $74.2 billion, above consensus estimates of $73.56 billion.

Both revenue and adjusted earnings topped Accenture’s previous guidance. In the fiscal third quarter, management had tweaked its fiscal 2026 outlook, expecting revenue to grow in a range of 3% to 4% in local currency, down from a prior range of 3% to 5%. Accenture had projected fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings to range from $13.78 to $13.90 a share.

The strong performance follows Accenture and Anthropic’s joint AI safety partnership announced almost two weeks ago. Through Accenture’s specialist AI unit, Faculty, the companies will embed independent safety evaluators within Anthropic. The pair anticipate investing at least $1 billion in AI safety evaluation over the next five years.

Accenture shares may be down nearly 32% this year on fears that AI could disrupt its core operations, but the numbers may suggest otherwise. AI is looking less like a threat and more like a catalyst, with Accenture’s expansion into AI safety positioned to propel the stock.

Write to Mariapaula Gonzalez at mariapaula.gonzalez@barrons.com

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