Accenture Q4 Earnings: Revenue And Profit Beat, $20B In New Bookings, Dividend And Buyback Boost

Accenture Plc ACN reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2024 sales of $16.41 billion compared with the analyst consensus estimate of $16.39 billion, up 3% Y/Y in U.S. dollars and 5% in local currency. 

Revenues were above the midpoint of the company’s guided range of $16.05 billion–$16.65 billion. 

The adjusted EPS of $2.79 topped the analyst consensus estimate of $2.77.

Revenues for the quarter reflect a negative foreign exchange impact of approximately 2%, consistent with the assumption provided in the company’s third-quarter earnings release. 

New bookings for the quarter were $20.1 billion, with consulting bookings of $8.6 billion and managed services bookings of $11.6 billion.

Adjusted operating income for the quarter was $2.46 billion, or 15.0% of revenues, versus 14.9% in the fourth quarter last year.

Products revenues reached $4.95 billion, up 4% in U.S. dollars and 6% in local currency. Health & Public Service revenues increased by 10% in U.S. dollars and 11% in local currency to $3.61 billion.

Financial Services revenue reached $2.87 billion, down by 5% in U.S. dollars and 2% in local currency. Resources revenue was $2.22 billion, flat in U.S. dollars and up by 3% in local currency.

Communications, Media & Technology revenue was $2.75 billion, increasing 2% in U.S. dollars and 5% in local currency.

Accenture generated $3.39 billion in operating cash flow and $3.18 billion in free cash flow for the fourth quarter.

Dividend: Accenture declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.48 per share, implying a growth of 15%.

Buyback: The board approved $4.0 billion in additional share repurchase authority, bringing Accenture’s total outstanding authority to approximately $6.7 billion.

Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture, said, “We delivered full-fiscal year new bookings of $81 billion, including a record 125 quarterly client bookings of more than $100 million, and now have 310 Diamond clients, our largest relationships. We continue to accelerate our leadership in Generative AI, which we believe is the most transformative technology of the next decade, delivering $3 billion in new bookings for the year.” 

Outlook: Accenture expects first-quarter revenues of $16.85 billion–$17.45 billion (versus consensus of $16.94 billion).

Accenture expects fiscal 2025 adjusted EPS of $12.55–$12.91 versus consensus of $12.85. For fiscal 2025, the company expects revenue of $66.84 billion–$68.79 billion versus the $68.72 billion consensus.

For fiscal 2025, the company reiterated operating cash flow of $9.4 billion—$10.1 billion and free cash flow of $8.8 billion—$9.5 billion. 

Price Action: ACN stock is up 3.55% at $349.01 premarket at the last check on Thursday.

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