Accenture Beats Q2 Expectations, Shares Gain

Shares of Accenture plc ACN gained over 2% in pre-market trading after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal second quarter and lifted its sales forecast for the full year. The Dublin, Ireland-based company posted quarterly net income of $743 million, or $1.08 per share, compared to $722 million, or $1.03 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue climbed 5% to $7.49 billion, while revenue in local currency jumped 12%. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $1.07 per share on revenue of $7.37 billion. Revenue at Accenture's outsourcing business climbed 6% to $3.65 billion, while consulting net revenue rose 4% to $3.84 billion. North America revenue climbed to $3.41 billion in the second quarter from $3.03 billion, while Europe revenue fell to $2.66 billion from $2.72 billion. Operating income rose 7% to $1.02 billion, while operating margin expanded 30 basis points to 13.6%. New bookings were $9.4 billion for the quarter. Attrition was 14% in the latest quarter, versus 12% in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin narrowed to 29.9% from 31.3%. During the quarter, Accenture repurchased 6.8 million shares for a total of $601 million. At Feb. 28, 2015, the company's total cash balance was $4.1 billion, versus $4.9 billion at Aug. 31, 2014. Pierre Nanterme, Accenture's chairman and CEO, said, "We are extremely pleased with our very strong financial results for the second quarter and first half of fiscal 2015. Our revenue growth of 12 percent in the second quarter was again broad-based across the different dimensions of our business, and we gained significant market share. We delivered excellent new bookings of $9.4 billion, demonstrating that our services continue to be highly relevant to our clients. Based on our continued momentum and very strong performance in the first half, we are raising our business outlook for revenues for the full fiscal year." For the full fiscal year, Accenture now projects revenue, excluding currency effects, to gain 8% to 10%, versus a prior forecast of 5% to 8% growth. The company now expects adjusted EPS of $4.66 to $4.76. Accenture projects Q3 net revenue of $7.35 billion to $7.60 billion. Accenture shares gained 2.55% to $90.46 in pre-market trading.