Accenture (ACN) versus Its Competitors Head to Head Comparison

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) is one of 273 publicly-traded companies in the “IT Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Accenture to related businesses based on the strength of its profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

75.1% of Accenture shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.4% of shares of all “IT Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Accenture shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.4% of shares of all “IT Services” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Accenture has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Accenture’s rivals have a beta of 2.16, suggesting that their average stock price is 116% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Accenture and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Accenture	0	17	10	0	2.37
Accenture Competitors	2009	5684	9513	343	2.47

Accenture presently has a consensus price target of $221.07, indicating a potential downside of 12.96%. As a group, “IT Services” companies have a potential upside of 25.96%. Given Accenture’s rivals stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Accenture has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Profitability

This table compares Accenture and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Accenture	11.28%	26.53%	12.58%
Accenture Competitors	-190.51%	-32.79%	-8.37%

Dividends

Accenture pays an annual dividend of $6.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Accenture pays out 50.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “IT Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.3% and pay out 71.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Accenture has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years. Accenture is clearly a better dividend stock than its rivals, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Accenture and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Accenture	$74.18 billion	$8.37 billion	18.73
Accenture Competitors	$3.51 billion	$223.00 million	-19.24

Accenture has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. Accenture is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Accenture beats its rivals on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc is a global professional services company that helps businesses, governments and other organizations solve operational and technology challenges. Its work includes strategy and management consulting, digital transformation, systems integration and the design, implementation and management of technology solutions. The company serves clients across a broad range of industries and geographies. Its services span cloud computing, data and artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software and platforms, business process operations, and digital marketing and customer experience.