Thanks in large part to its cloud and digital services expansion, Accenture crushed earnings estimates for its fiscal second quarter, in addition to raising its full-year outlook.
For the three months ended February, the global consulting company’s diluted earnings came in at $1.73 per share, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $1.57. The earnings-per-share was also +26.3% higher from the same quarter of the prior year. The group's gross margin increased 30 basis points to 29.2%.
Accenture’s total revenues increased +5.44% year-over-year to $10.45 billion, also exceeding analysts' estimates of $10.3 billion. The group’s digital and cloud services accounted for around 60% of its total sales.
Bookings for the quarter peaked at $11.8 billion, with $6.7 billion from consultancy and $5.1 billion from outsourcing (according to Accenture).
For the full year, the company expects its earnings per share to range between $7.18 and $7.32, up from its previous forecast of $7.01 to $7.25.