What changed
$ACN — BUY 📊 | 6 MONTHS THESIS
🧭 Conviction: HIGH
🎯 FQ3 FY2026 (ends May) | reported Jun 18 | Rev $18.7B | EPS $3.80 vs $3.71 🟢 | Margin 17.0%
💡 Consensus expected $3.71 EPS; $3.80 beat shows estimates still lag reality. At 8.5x P/E, the market implies permanent stagnation, yet ACN consistently grows earnings >5% with high returns on capital. The gap: negative macro narrative ignoring earnings resilience and buyback power.
📉 Reward/risk: 2.4:1
🏢 Business Quality: 8 — one-line reason: Dominant global IT services firm with 17% operating margins, $5B net cash, and a recurring transformation tailwind./10
📊 Valuation: cheap — trailing P/E 8.5x vs. historical 15–20x range and IT services peers at 12–15x; EV/EBITDA ~6x; FCF yield >10%.
🔮 Catalyst: Next quarterly earnings release (expected within 3 months)
💰 Entry: $128.98, stop $118.0, target $155.0
⚖️ Buy ACN at $128.98 with stop $118, target $155 — 8.5x P/E is an overreaction to macro fears; a re-rating to just 10x on stable earn