Accenture Wins Huge IT Contract

"It's a nice contract," said Schwab SoundView analyst Cindy Shaw, who has an outperform rating on Accenture. "It should open up some additional doors for [Accenture]."

Shaw noted how the US-Visit contract follows Accenture helping the Transportation Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, work on luggage screening after 9/11. (Her firm has done investment banking with Accenture.)

Still, Shaw doesn't expect a huge boost in Accenture's financials. She estimates that Accenture would get two-thirds of the contract at most, and only $2 billion at the least. That translates to between a penny and a nickel a year in earnings per share on average over a 10-year period. That isn't much, considering Accenture is expected to earn $1.15 a share in fiscal year 2004 ending in August, according to Thomson First Call.

While Accenture's win is clearly a loss to rival Computer Sciences, Shaw said it wasn't totally unexpected, so she doesn't believe it is a negative. She remains positive on the company, citing its strong pipeline. (Shaw has an outperform rating on CSC; her firm hasn't done banking with the company.)

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