By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Accenture (NYSE:ACN) stock jumped 4.5% in premarket trading Thursday as the company raised its annual guidance one more time after grabbing market share in the second quarter.
The company now sees annual revenue rising 24-26% in local currency and profit per share between $10.61-$10.81. At the time of the last revision in December, revenue growth was seen at 19-22% and EPS at $10.32-$10.60.
The company saw record quarterly bookings in both consulting and outsourcing of $10.9 billion and $8.7 billion, respectively, riding on increasing appetite among clients for spending on technology as they pivot to digital. Demand for cloud and security-related services, Accenture’s forte, was strong in the recent quarter through February.
The company’s clients include more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500 companies across communications, media, and technology as well as financial services industries.
Geographically, U.S. grew the most, at 26%, followed by Europe at 24%. Growth markets also rose a strong 22%.
Revenue in the second quarter topped $15 billion, rising 24% in U.S. dollars and around $300 million above the top end of the company’s guided range of $14.30 billion-$14.75 billion.
Operating margin was unchanged from last year at 13.7%. Profit per share rose 25% to $2.54, reflecting a mix of higher revenue and lower non-operating expense.