Accenture sales forecast misses analysts' estimates

Accenture Plc, the second-largest technology-consulting company, reported fiscal third-quarter profit that topped analysts' estimates as demand for consulting projects rebounds.

Net income rose to $490.6 million, or 73 cents a share, from $444 million, or 68 cents, a year earlier, the Dublin-based company said today in a statement. Analysts estimated 69 cents a share on average, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Net revenue in the three months ended May 31 rose 8.3 percent to $5.57 billion, the first year-over-year increase in six quarters. Consulting revenue, which makes up almost 60 percent of total sales and is typically a leading indicator before large deals resume, climbed 9 percent.

"They continue to manage the business well," said Andy Miedler, an analyst for Edward Jones in St. Louis. He rates the shares "buy" and doesn't own them. "Investors were braced for results not to be this good, given the strong currency headwind."

Accenture, which trails only International Business Machines Corp. in the technology-consulting market, rose as much as $1.10 to $38.65 in extended trading, after falling 62 cents to $37.55 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have dropped 10 percent this year.

Sales to the financial services industry climbed 12 percent to $1.15 billion. Total bookings for the quarter were $6.43 billion. Full-year bookings will be in the middle of its forecast of $23 billion to $26 billion, the company said.

Customers are contracting with Accenture for multiple smaller projects rather than the larger deals that were common before the recession, Chief Executive Officer Bill Green said in a telephone interview.

"We're seeing projects that are transformational in nature, but the clients are choosing to take smaller bites," Green said in an interview. "As the economy recovers, business models are coming back and looking dramatically different."

Global technology spending will climb 5 percent this year, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Accenture plans to hire 50,000 people this year to capitalize on that growth.

The company also aims to get a sales boost from emerging markets, including Brazil and India, and from the development of new technologies, such as analytics and cloud computing. Cloud computing lets companies store and retrieve data on off-site servers rather than their own gear.