Accenture (ACN) Marked As A Barbarian At The Gate
Trade-Ideas LLC identified
(
) as a "barbarian at the gate" (strong stocks crossing above resistance with today's range greater than 200%) candidate. In addition to specific proprietary factors, Trade-Ideas identified Accenture as such a stock due to the following factors:
- ACN has an average dollar-volume (as measured by average daily share volume multiplied by share price) of $223.6 million.
- ACN has traded 3.4 million shares today.
- ACN traded in a range 225.5% of the normal price range with a price range of $2.71.
- ACN traded above its daily resistance level (quality: 10 days, meaning that the stock is crossing a resistance level set by the last 10 calendar days. The resistance price is defined by the Price - $0.01 at the time of the signal).
Stocks matching the 'Barbarian at the Gate' criteria are worthwhile stocks to watch for a variety of factors including historical back testing and volatility. Trade-Ideas targets these opportunities because the stock is exhibiting an unusual behavior while displaying positive price action. In this case, the stock crossed an important inflection point; namely, 'resistance' while at the same time the range of the stock's movement in price is more than twice its normal size. This large range foreshadows a possible continuation as the stock moves higher.
EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Get the inside scoop on opportunities in ACN with the Ticky from Trade-Ideas. See the FREE profile for ACN NOW at Trade-Ideas
More details on ACN:
Accenture plc provides management consulting, technology, and outsourcing services worldwide. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 2.1%. ACN has a PE ratio of 22. Currently there are 9 analysts that rate Accenture a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 6 rate it a hold.
The average volume for Accenture has been 2.7 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Accenture has a market cap of $65.2 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer software & services industry. The stock has a beta of 1.03 and a short float of 1.7% with 5.05 days to cover. Shares are up 15.5% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Friday.
EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramer's multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potential winners. Click here to see his holdings for 14-days FREE.
Analysis:
rates Accenture as a
. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share and increase in net income. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity.
Highlights from the ratings report include:
- The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 27.0%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 1.2%. This growth in revenue appears to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, improving the earnings per share.
- ACN's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.00 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Along with the favorable debt-to-equity ratio, the company maintains an adequate quick ratio of 1.18, which illustrates the ability to avoid short-term cash problems.
- The stock has not only risen over the past year, it has done so at a faster pace than the S&P 500, reflecting the earnings growth and other positive factors similar to those we have cited here. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.
- ACCENTURE PLC has improved earnings per share by 6.5% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past year. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, ACCENTURE PLC increased its bottom line by earning $4.76 versus $4.52 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($5.20 versus $4.76).
- The company, on the basis of net income growth from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed compared to the IT Services industry average, but is greater than that of the S&P 500. The net income increased by 5.2% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, going from $701.02 million to $737.63 million.
- You can view the full Accenture Ratings Report.
EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramer's multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potential winners. Click here to see his holdings for 14-days FREE.