Accenture plc

Nvidia's board authorized an additional $150B for its existing share-repurchase program, bringing the remaining authorization to $235B, which the company said was the largest increase to a share-repurchase authorization in history. Micron Technology reported fiscal fourth-quarter results and guidance that topped Wall Street's expectations by a wide margin, earning an adjusted $33.42 per share as revenue soared 379.1% year-over-year to $54.23B, versus analyst expectations of $31.72 per share on $51.49B in revenue. Accenture shares rose after its Q4 beat expectations and it forecast upbeat fiscal 2027 revenue growth, reporting GAAP earnings of $3.29 per share, revenue up 6.3% year over year to $18.7B, and new bookings of $22.2B. MongoDB shares fell after CEO Chirantan Desai stepped down effective immediately to become the newly created Chief Enterprise Platform Officer at Meta, with the board appointing Dev Ittycheria as interim president and CEO. Summit Therapeutics shares surged after AstraZeneca announced a $2B equity investment in the U.S. biotech and a clinical collaboration to develop new cancer treatments, purchasing convertible preferred shares at a conversion price equivalent to $18.36 per common share, a 10% premium to Summit's five-day volume-weighted average price. For the week, the Dow fell 1.26%, the S&P 500 lost 0.27%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.45%.

Nvidia said its board increased its share buyback program by $150 billion, leaving $235 billion in total authorization, the largest buyback program in U.S. history according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Advanced Micro Devices said it would acquire AI model and research lab World Labs in an all-stock transaction valued at nearly $8.2 billion, a deal Citi analyst Atif Malik said gives the company deeper visibility into how AI models are evolving, while RBC analyst Srini Pajjuri said it could help position AMD to offer full-stack solutions for robotics, simulation and physical AI markets. Micron Technology reported fourth-quarter results and an outlook that beat expectations as its strategic customer agreements continued to increase, and Accenture reported fiscal quarterly results that exceeded expectations on both revenue and bookings, sending its shares up nearly 16% on Thursday. HPE closed nearly 4% higher after saying it won a $1.2 billion order of AMD's Helios AI rack from cloud infrastructure company Vultr, and raised its fiscal 2027 networking growth outlook to the high-teens to low-20s on a percentage basis, with data center networking revenue expected to grow at a low-to-high 50s percent compound annual rate through fiscal 2029. Anthropic intends to launch its initial public offering before the Thanksgiving holiday, according to Bloomberg, which also reported that Broadcom's Wall Street syndicate is starting to gather $60 billion of fresh AI chip financing to benefit Anthropic PBC and other companies, while Meta Platforms is adding a new Meta Enterprise Platform for organizations, tapping MongoDB CEO Chirantan Desai to lead it, and introduced Muse for Small Business.

Accenture reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 earnings per share of $3.29 and revenues of $18.68 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimates of $3.19 and $18.02 billion. Chief executive officer and Chair Julie Sweet said fourth-quarter revenues grew 7% in local currency across every geographic market and both consulting and managed services. Chief financial officer Angie Park guided fiscal 2027 revenues to grow 3% to 6% in local currency, including a 2% to 2.5% inorganic contribution, with operating margin forecast at 15.9% to 16.1%, up 10 to 30 basis points from adjusted fiscal 2026. Sweet said nearly 100 additional clients began their first advanced AI work with Accenture in the quarter, taking the fiscal 2026 total above 400, and the company ended the year with nearly 110,000 AI and data professionals. Accenture deployed $4.9 billion across 17 acquisitions in fiscal 2026, and Park said about $3 billion tied to Cyber OT acquisitions shifted into the first quarter of fiscal 2027 because of regulatory timing, with roughly $5 billion of additional acquisition spending expected during fiscal 2027. Management also said it expects at least $9.5 billion of capital returns in fiscal 2027.

Accenture reported calendar Q3 2026 results that beat revenue expectations, with sales rising 6.2% year on year to $18.68 billion against analyst estimates of $18.04 billion. GAAP profit came in at $3.29 per share, 3.4% above the consensus estimate of $3.18, while operating margin climbed to 15.3% from 11.6% a year earlier. However, the company's revenue guidance for the next quarter of $19.28 billion at the midpoint came in 0.6% below analyst estimates of $19.39 billion. CEO Julie Sweet said growth was broad-based across markets, industries and both types of work, crediting large-scale transformation projects and rising adoption of AI-enabled services, with more than 400 clients initiating advanced AI work during the year. CFO Angie Park said the outlook assumes a stable to slightly improving discretionary spend environment but also incorporates potential deterioration, as Accenture plans heavy investment in acquisitions and talent. The company closed several acquisitions including Ookla for network intelligence and Whalar for digital marketing, and reported record managed services bookings, with a market capitalization of $126.5 billion.

Accenture plc reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.29 per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.19 per share, sending its shares up 15.8%. Acuity Inc. posted fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 revenues of $1,244.40 million, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,251.87 million, and its shares fell 3.4%. McKesson Corp. shares surged 5.3% after the company reiterated its fiscal 2027 earnings per share guidance. Progress Software Corp. shares tumbled 8.5% after it reported third-quarter fiscal 2026 revenues of $246.01 million, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $247.16 million.

Accenture PLC shares climbed 15.78 percent to close at $212.30, a third straight day of gains, after the IT services giant reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results and new bookings that eased fears about AI disrupting consulting firms. Attributable net income surged 40.8 percent to $1.99 billion from $1.413 billion a year earlier, while revenues grew 6.25 percent to $18.68 billion from $17.6 billion. New bookings rose 4 percent to $22.2 billion, comprising $9.4 billion from consulting and $12.77 billion from managed services. Chairman and CEO Julie Sweet said the company exceeded its fourth-quarter revenue guidance range, grew adjusted EPS 8 percent, returned a record $11.5 billion to shareholders and reached a new high of 141 quarterly client bookings of $100 million or more. Accenture guided full-year 2027 revenue growth of 3 to 6 percent, slower than the 6.5 percent jump in fiscal 2025, with GAAP diluted earnings per share projected at $14.39 to $14.81, implying 6 to 9 percent growth, and plans to return at least $9.5 billion in cash to shareholders. Evercore raised its price target to $250 from $180, Stifel hiked its target to $242 from $225, and Baird lifted its target to $245 from $190, while TD Cowen kept a hold rating and $173 target.

Shares of IT consulting and business-services firms rallied after Accenture reported stronger-than-expected results and an above-consensus fiscal 2027 outlook. Accenture guided fiscal 2027 revenue growth of 3%–6% following a Q4 revenue beat of roughly $18.7B, easing fears that AI would hollow out traditional consulting and outsourcing demand. The read-across lifted EPAM 6.8%, DXC 5.7%, Everforth 11.7%, EXL 6.2%, and Grid Dynamics 8%, with Cognizant, IBM, Salesforce, and Indian IT ADRs Infosys and Wipro also gaining. Separately, IBM announced a self-hosted deployment option for IBM Bob aimed at enterprise AI sovereignty and governance, letting enterprises run AI-driven software delivery and modernization inside customer-controlled environments including on-premises, sovereign clouds, private clouds, and air-gapped setups. IBM also expanded its IBM Bob Premium Package for Z with that self-hosted capability and deeper application intelligence tools, targeting mainframe modernization under strict compliance and data-sovereignty standards.

Alphabet rose 2% in premarket trading after unveiling Gemini 4 Argon, its most advanced artificial intelligence model yet, which the company said delivers improvements in cybersecurity, coding and complex professional work. Accenture soared 17% after fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $18.68 billion beat its own guidance of $17.75 billion to $18.4 billion and the FactSet consensus estimate of $18.3 billion, with earnings of $3.29 per share also topping expectations. Rocket Lab climbed 4.5% after signing a multiyear launch agreement for 20 new Electron missions with Tokyo-based company Synspective, which Rocket Lab called the largest commercial launch contract for Electron to date. Micron reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter results, earning an adjusted $33.42 per share on revenue of $54.23 billion versus analyst estimates of $31.61 per share on revenue of $51.07 billion, though the stock fell slightly while the Roundhill Memory ETF gained more than 1% and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF advanced 1%. McCormick rose nearly 5% on third-quarter adjusted earnings of 86 cents per share and revenue of $2.02 billion, both above consensus, while Dollar Tree added 1.3% on a Loop Capital upgrade to buy from hold and Nu Holdings gained nearly 6% after denying it is pursuing a transaction with U.K. digital bank Monzo.

Accenture has reported new work with DS Smith to expand global supply chain transparency and regulatory compliance, alongside a finance and operations transformation for personal care company Combe using Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications. The DS Smith collaboration targets traceability and readiness for the European Union Deforestation Regulation across packaging and paper operations, while the Combe project unifies the company's finance and operations on Oracle Fusion Cloud. Accenture said the DS Smith supply chain transparency work and the Combe Oracle cloud overhaul capture only part of the Accenture story, and it flagged 4 other big wins. The company operates as a global IT and consulting group that helps enterprises rework processes, data flows, and core systems.

MotoGP Group has selected Accenture plc to build its next-generation direct-to-fan OTT streaming service ahead of the 2027 season. The agreement, announced September 10, uses the Accenture Media Engage platform to unify MotoGP, Moto2, Moto3, and World Superbike into a consolidated digital hub supporting customizable coverage, interactive multi-camera viewing, and real-time racing telemetry. The win lands alongside Accenture's Q3 FY2026 results, in which managed services new bookings reached $9.06 billion out of total bookings of $19.32 billion, down slightly from $19.70 billion in Q3 FY2025, with consulting bookings at $10.26 billion. Q3 operating margins expanded 20 basis points year over year to 17.0%, free cash flow was $3.6 billion, and the cash balance stood at $10.2 billion, with $8.2 billion returned to shareholders year-to-date. Accenture guides to full-year local currency revenue growth of 3% to 4%, or 4% to 5% excluding a 1% drag from its U.S. federal business, on a Q3 revenue base of $18.72 billion, and expects full-year free cash flow of $10.8 billion to $11.5 billion.

Accenture and osapiens have completed a supply chain transparency program with sustainable packaging company DS Smith, spanning more than 250 plants and facilities in over 30 countries. The program gives DS Smith full visibility into the origin and movement of European Union Deforestation Regulation-relevant materials across its Europe, Middle East, and Africa supply chain, preparing the company for EUDR compliance requirements that come into force at the end of 2026. Accenture led process transformation, supplier enablement, systems integration and program scaling, while osapiens supplied the technology platform, the osapiens HUB, into which previously separate supply chain systems, onboarding and reporting processes were integrated. Since implementation, more than 25,000 supply chain workflows have been executed, nearly 25,000 land plots have been monitored automatically, and almost 10,000 compliance-related cases have been managed through automated case management on the osapiens HUB, with more than 1,000 suppliers engaged through a single process. Building on the DS Smith work, Accenture and osapiens have expanded their partnership to offer clients globally capabilities including multi-tier supplier mapping, supplier intelligence, continuous risk monitoring and automated compliance.

Accenture has entered into an investment and partnership agreement with AI platform company Within to support enterprise clients. The relationship focuses on using Within's work-to-agent platform to map and automate core business processes for large organizations, with Accenture planning to combine its AI services, consulting scale, and ecosystem partners with Within's agents to speed up business process automation. The deal sits alongside Accenture's recent Construct, AWS mid market collaboration and Horizon work with Volvo Cars, which all focus on using data, cloud and AI to reshape how infrastructure, industrial and software development projects are delivered. The clearest signal of success will be whether management starts breaking out or regularly citing agent based or process automation wins tied to Within in quarterly updates over the next 12 to 24 months, including metrics such as the number of clients running production agents or recurring revenue tied to these deployments.

Anthropic has selected Accenture plc as its first embedded evaluator, the initial concrete step in implementing CEO Dario Amodei's proposal to slow the pace of AI development, CNBC reported on September 18, 2026. Accenture's AI division, Faculty, will place staff inside Anthropic with employee-level access to red-team models, conduct alignment assessments, and test safeguards. The two companies expect to invest at least $1 billion each over five years, a combined commitment of at least $2 billion, with Anthropic paying Accenture directly for its work, though the contract's value was not disclosed. The non-exclusive arrangement could let Accenture perform similar evaluation work for other AI developers and build a broader consulting business covering model testing, risk management, regulatory compliance, and responsible AI deployment. Accenture's hedge fund count rose to 69 in the second quarter from 64 in the first, with position value climbing to $3.12 billion from $3.10 billion, while IBM's holders increased to 74 from 59 and its position value nearly doubled to $2.99 billion from $1.64 billion.

Accenture plc announced on Friday that it will enter into a partnership with Anthropic and evaluate the models of the AI giant, sending its shares up 2.7%. Novo Nordisk A/S shares tumbled 8% as investors appeared underwhelmed by the company's long-term strategy for competing in the weight-loss market. Shares of NVIDIA Corporation gained 2.3% on the broader AI rally, while Broadcom Inc. shares rose 1.6% on the broader semiconductor rally.

Accenture and Google Cloud announced that Volvo Cars has become the lead industry partner for Horizon, an open-source software development platform for building, testing, and deploying software for the Android Automotive Operating System. As Horizon's lead industry partner, Volvo Cars is migrating its global AAOS software development environment to the platform, gaining access to faster development workflows, virtual testing environments, and AI-assisted software development tools. The platform offers up to 9x faster software testing using virtual Cuttlefish-based Android Automotive environments, reduces infotainment feature development costs by up to 40%, and cuts software build times from up to two hours to feedback within minutes. Gregor Zetsche, Head of Connected Experience at Volvo Cars, said the company can directly solve its toughest engineering challenges and empower teams to deliver new experiences faster than ever. Accenture and Google Cloud, with Volvo Cars as leading industry partner, are already working with other automotive and industrial organizations to extend the reach of Horizon into further companies and markets.

ServiceNow lifted its 2026 subscription revenue midpoint to $15.77 billion, implying 21% constant-currency growth, after second-quarter 2026 subscription revenues reached $3.88 billion, up 24.5% year over year. The company said net new annual contract value outperformance drove the raise. In the quarter, Technology Workflows recorded 50 deals worth more than $1 million, including nine above $5 million, while Information Technology Service Management appeared in 15 of ServiceNow's top 20 deals and Information Technology Operations Management featured in 18. Cross-selling strengthened, with 18 of the top 20 deals involving at least eight products, a 98% renewal rate, and 658 customers generating more than $5 million in annual contract value. ServiceNow also extended AI Control Tower governance across Microsoft Agent 365, surpassed $1 billion in AWS Marketplace transactions, and expanded its Accenture relationship. The company faces intensifying competition from Salesforce, whose Agentforce IT Service has more than 450 customers, and from Microsoft, whose Agent 365 had nearly 40 million registered agents and whose Microsoft 365 Copilot exceeded 30 million paid seats.

Accenture shares rose as much as 6.4% in premarket trading Monday after Anthropic partnered with the technology consulting firm to test the safety of its advanced artificial intelligence models. Each company expects to invest at least $1B in building AI safely over the next five years. Truist Securities analyst Arvind Ramnani said the Anthropic partnership highlights an emerging AI safety opportunity, following Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's essay on pacing the frontier and aligning with the first step he outlined, embedded evaluators. Ramnani added that the initiative could be an important step toward advancing AI safety, as independent third-party evaluators may ultimately be necessary to verify that AI labs are adhering to their safety commitments. Accenture chair and CEO Julie Sweet said the firm is bringing together a dedicated team with deep AI, security and industry expertise to work alongside Anthropic, calling embedded evaluation an emerging area and an important part of the safety landscape going forward.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman plans to address the United Nations Security Council next week in New York City during the U.N. General Assembly, according to Reuters. The Security Council is slated to meet on Wednesday, Sept. 23, and an OpenAI spokesperson said Altman will brief the open meeting in person, with remarks expected to focus on the steps OpenAI is taking to ensure AI is safe and benefits people globally, along with the need for international coordination and shared safety standards. The meeting comes as AI company executives call for a deliberate pacing of AI model development due to its ever-increasing capabilities, particularly in cybersecurity. The U.N. Security Council first addressed the potential risks of AI during a 2023 meeting. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei introduced a strategy on September 12 calling for embedded evaluators, democratic coordination and global coordination to address the risks, and it was announced today that Anthropic will embed evaluators through a new partnership with Accenture.

Corning shares fell 12.7% on Monday after the glass and electronic component manufacturer disclosed an at-the-market equity distribution agreement with Goldman Sachs to sell up to $2 billion of its common stock. Baldwin Insurance Group rose 7.9% after announcing a definitive agreement to be taken private through a majority investment by Sequence Holdings and DFO Management in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $7.7 billion. Gartner gained 7.7% as it kicked off its IT Symposium/Xpo conference, highlighting major technology trends and emphasizing how agentic artificial intelligence and modern governance are reshaping public sector operations. Jabil dropped 5.1% after Goldman Sachs lowered its price target on the shares to $375, while Accenture rose 5.2% after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to $175.

Google Cloud and Accenture have created the Accenture Gemini Enterprise Business Group, a joint unit that will place forward-deployed engineers inside customer operations and expand Gemini training across Accenture's workforce. The engineers are Accenture employees trained on Google's stack, not Google hires, and the arrangement is not exclusive, as Accenture continues to work with Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and NVIDIA. The move follows Google's disclosure that nearly 90% of the Fortune 100 are using Gemini Enterprise, the customer base Microsoft has spent a generation cultivating. Google Cloud revenue reached $24.77 billion with 82% growth, while Azure crossed $100 billion in annual revenue and grew 43%, and Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats with commercial remaining performance obligation of $678 billion, up 84%. Alphabet trades at a trailing P/E of about 17x versus roughly 28 for Microsoft, and Google announced a record $15 billion European AI infrastructure commitment this week.

A new Accenture survey finds that U.S. consumers are already holiday shopping in September and are on track to outspend 2025, with 20% having started before August and 90% saying they will finish before Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Accenture Global consumer goods, retail, and travel lead Kath Gramling said the average household will spend $737 this holiday season, while higher-income households will spend around $956. Consumers will spend 12% to 15% more than last year, according to the survey and Accenture's June macro foresight analysis, but that increase reflects higher prices rather than more purchases, with unit volumes expected to decline. Shoppers plan to do the bulk of their buying at mass merchants and wholesale clubs, with 50% of spending in apparel and 35% in food and beverage, focusing on back-to-basics items such as clothing for children, small beauty luxuries for parents, and beverages for holiday occasions. Gramling said the advice to retailers and brands is to focus on winning the occasion, or winning the holiday.

Minor International has announced a partnership with Accenture on a company-wide initiative to enhance artificial intelligence and digital skills, preparing its workforce for the future and accelerating its digital transformation. The program will offer tailored learning paths through the Udacity platform, part of Accenture LearnVantage, covering AI, generative AI, automation, data, and cloud, while promoting responsible and secure AI use. It will begin with key learner groups driving Digital Acumen. This collaboration is part of Minor's continuously developed digital learning ecosystem, providing all employees access to world-class learning resources, aligned with its Digital Acumen commitment and the Passion for Growth philosophy.

Accenture has agreed to acquire COMWARE Co., Ltd., a Tokyo-based provider of end-to-end technology services to mid-market companies, in a move expected to strengthen its Accenture Edge business unit, which helps mid-sized companies adopt artificial intelligence and transform operations. Financial terms were not disclosed. COMWARE, founded in September 2000, brings over 180 professionals and specializes in SAP and customer relationship management technologies, with deep experience in discrete and process manufacturing. The acquisition expands Accenture's presence in Japan's mid-market segment and adds specialized capabilities to Accenture Edge, enabling faster delivery of scalable AI, cloud, and data-driven solutions. This deal follows Accenture's recent strategic partnership with UniCredit and IBM to modernize UniCredit's technology infrastructure, and a joint AI-powered cybersecurity offering with ServiceNow.

Accenture has entered into a multi-year collaboration with Indian FMCG company Dabur India Limited to accelerate AI adoption and build a future-ready digital enterprise. The initiative will establish a unified data foundation through a centralized data lake, enabling real-time visibility via control towers and digital dashboards. Advanced analytics and AI will be applied to identify revenue growth opportunities, optimize costs, and improve supply-chain responsiveness across finance, procurement, marketing, and sales. Dabur also plans to introduce generative AI-powered conversational interfaces and digital assistants to support data-driven decision-making. The partnership aims to deliver measurable business value through spend optimization, operational efficiency, and EBITDA margin expansion.

Accenture has agreed to acquire a majority stake in a joint venture with UniCredit and IBM to build a next-generation banking platform in Europe. The venture will manage a large share of UniCredit's technology infrastructure, with IBM working on modernizing the bank's technology stack as part of a multi-year initiative. The deal deepens Accenture's role in core banking infrastructure, placing it in charge of running a significant portion of UniCredit's day-to-day operations across thirteen European markets. The project is subject to regulatory approvals and complex consultation procedures, which could affect timing and scope.

Accenture has partnered with Radisson Hotel Group to launch an AI-powered hotel discovery and booking app within ChatGPT, enabling travelers to search, compare, and book stays through natural language conversations. The app, accessible as @RadissonHotels in ChatGPT, covers more than 1,000 Radisson Hotels properties across over 100 countries and provides live room availability, pricing, amenities, and interactive maps before directing users to the Radisson website to complete reservations. The collaboration began with Radisson adopting an MCP accelerator inside Accenture's AI Merchant Center platform to optimize hotel content and booking data for AI-driven discovery, with future plans to add personalized recommendations, loyalty recognition, and in-chat booking. Accenture's Consumer Pulse Research shows 87% of travelers are willing to use AI-powered travel agents, and the deal reinforces Accenture's leadership in generative AI and agentic commerce while supporting Radisson's direct booking strategy. The article also notes similar AI initiatives by Salesforce with Minor Hotels and Choice Hotels with AWS, and mentions that Accenture's stock has lost nearly 40% over the past year and carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Brown & Brown reported second-quarter revenue of $1.68 billion, missing analyst estimates of $1.72 billion but still rising 30.4% year on year. Adjusted earnings per share of $1.07 matched consensus, while adjusted EBITDA of $608.5 million slightly exceeded expectations. The company highlighted strong contingent commissions, progress integrating the Accession acquisition, and new AI partnerships with McKinsey, Accenture, and Anthropic as key drivers. Management expects $30 million to $40 million in cost synergies this year from recent deals and sees AI initiatives boosting productivity and margins over the next three to five years.