ACN: F3Q Preview: Expect In-Line Qtr & Tighter FY Guidance Range

Research evidence excerpt

ACN: F3Q Preview: Expect In-Line Qtr & Tighter FY Guidance Range

ne-time items

Source: Company Data, Wells Fargo Securities estimates, and Factset.

AI cross-currents remain key theme. ACN has rallied ~20% off mid-May lows, but has NA = Not Available, NC = No Change, NE = No Estimate

massively lagged SPX YTD due to AI fears that we believe are overblown. AI has created a Jason Kupferberg

multi-year transition period for all IT Svcs providers and parts of the market are seeing AI Equity Analyst | Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

headwinds, but we believe ACN's scale, deep client relationships, & domain/tech expertise Jason.Kupferberg@wellsfargo.com | 212-214-5457

position the co to be a net beneficiary of AI. Street awaits greater clarity on whether Tyler DuPont, CFA

OpenAI and Anthropic are more partners or competitors. Associate Equity Analyst | Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Tyler.J.Dupont@wellsfargo.com | 212-214-5431

Focus more on LTM than quarterly bookings. LTM bookings growth is a better Cassie Chan

barometer of underlying fundamentals than quarterly y/y bookings, which can be quite Equity Analyst | Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Cassie.Chan@wellsfargo.com | 212-214-5331

lumpy (esp in Managed Services biz). For F3Q, mindful of potential war-related impacts on

client decision-making, we forecast Consulting bookings of $9.3B-$9.8B (Street at $9.7B) Melissa Chen, CFA

and Managed Services bookings of $10.5B-$11B vs. Street at $11.5B. At midpt, our total Associate Equity Analyst | Wells Fargo Securities, LLC Melissa.Chen@wellsfargo.com | 212-214-5346

LTM bookings growth estimate is +6.6% y/y, accelerating vs. 4.0% in F2Q.

WFSe vs. Street and Guidance (Ex. 1). We model F3Q revs of $18.84B, largely in-line

with Street at $18.81B and guide of $18.35B-$19.0B.