Advertisement
ACN vs CTSH
Which Stock Would AI Choose? Accenture (ACN) vs. Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) Stock Comparison
Key Takeaways
- Accenture and Cognizant are both global IT services and consulting leaders, but they face sharply different market sentiment and momentum profiles in the current environment.
- Accenture has experienced a significant stock price decline, with its forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio compressing to historically low levels, despite strong generative AI (GenAI) bookings momentum.
- Cognizant has delivered five consecutive quarters of organic revenue growth and signed a record number of large deals, including multiple mega-deals exceeding $1 billion each.
- Both companies are investing heavily in AI capabilities, but Accenture's scale in GenAI bookings ($5.9 billion in fiscal 2025) far surpasses Cognizant's, while Cognizant's turnaround story under newer leadership is gaining traction.
- Accenture trades at a deeply discounted valuation after a prolonged sell-off, while Cognizant has maintained relative stability and has been upgraded by analysts in recent months.
- Investors comparing these two stocks face a choice between a beaten-down industry giant with massive AI exposure and a mid-tier competitor executing a credible operational turnaround.
Introduction
The IT services and consulting sector sits at the intersection of two powerful forces shaping today's economy: enterprise digital transformation and the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence. ACN (Accenture) and CTSH (Cognizant Technology Solutions) represent two distinct approaches to capturing this opportunity. Accenture is the undisputed global leader, with a market presence spanning more than 120 countries and a workforce nearing 780,000. Cognizant, while smaller, has been executing a disciplined turnaround that has drawn renewed Wall Street attention. This stock comparison examines how these two companies stack up across growth, valuation, momentum, and strategic positioning — offering a useful lens for investors evaluating exposure to the IT services space.
ACN Overview and Recent Performance
ACN (Accenture) is the world's largest professional services firm by revenue, providing strategy, consulting, technology, and operations services across more than 40 industries. In its most recently reported fiscal 2025 (ended August 31, 2025), the company generated $69.7 billion in revenue, reflecting approximately 7% growth year-over-year, while adjusted earnings per share (EPS) rose 8% to $12.93. New bookings for the year totaled $80.6 billion, and GenAI-specific bookings reached $5.9 billion — accelerating every quarter.
Despite these solid operational results, Accenture's stock has been under severe pressure. Over the past twelve months, shares have declined roughly 48%, with the forward P/E ratio compressing to approximately 10x — the lowest level in years. The sell-off has been driven by a combination of factors: fiscal 2026 revenue guidance of only 2% to 5% growth in local currency, a significant restructuring involving combined charges of approximately $865 million, and broader market concerns about whether generative AI could ultimately disrupt the consulting business model itself. In its fiscal Q1 2026 (reported December 2025), Accenture posted $18.7 billion in revenue (up 6% in USD), with GenAI bookings nearly doubling year-over-year to $2.2 billion. Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock from Equal-Weight to Overweight in December 2025, citing valuation. Nevertheless, negative sentiment has persisted, and institutional ownership has seen notable reductions.
CTSH Overview and Recent Performance
CTSH (Cognizant Technology Solutions) is a leading IT services and consulting company headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, with more than 350,000 employees globally. Under CEO Ravi Kumar S, who took the helm in early 2023, Cognizant has undergone a significant strategic reset centered on operational rigor, large-deal momentum, and an AI-builder strategy. The company reported full-year 2025 revenue of $21.1 billion, representing 7.0% reported growth (6.4% in constant currency), exceeding the high end of its original guidance range.
Cognizant's operating performance has shown consistent improvement. Adjusted operating margin expanded 50 basis points to 15.8% for full-year 2025, while adjusted EPS grew 11% to $5.28. The company signed 28 large deals (total contract value of $100 million or more each) during 2025, including 12 in the fourth quarter alone, with large-deal TCV (total contract value) growing nearly 50% year-over-year. Trailing twelve-month bookings reached a record $28.4 billion, representing a book-to-bill ratio of approximately 1.3x. In November 2025, William Blair upgraded CTSH from Market Perform to Outperform. For 2026, management has guided for 4.0% to 6.5% constant currency revenue growth, with adjusted operating margin expanding to 15.9%–16.1%. The company's Belcan acquisition contributed meaningfully to 2025 growth, and Cognizant returned $2 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends.
Trending AI Robots
For traders seeking to complement their own analysis with data-driven automation, Tickeron's Trending AI Robots page offers a curated selection of AI-powered trading bots designed for today's market conditions. Tickeron hosts hundreds of AI trading bots across thousands of tickers, but only the strongest performers — those demonstrating consistency, adaptability, and alignment with current market dynamics — earn a spot in the Trending section. These bots employ a variety of trading styles, including swing trading, trend following, and pattern recognition across different timeframes, with statistical track records that traders can review in detail. Whether a trader is focused on large-cap technology stocks, sector rotation strategies, or momentum-based entries and exits, the Trending AI Robots page provides a streamlined gateway to explore which automated strategies are resonating with real-time market data.
Head-to-Head Comparison
When comparing ACN and CTSH, several contrasting themes emerge. On scale, Accenture is far larger — its annual revenue of nearly $70 billion is more than triple Cognizant's $21.1 billion. Accenture also dominates in GenAI, with $5.9 billion in AI-related bookings in fiscal 2025 versus Cognizant's earlier-stage AI builder strategy. However, size has not translated into stock resilience: Accenture shares have been in a prolonged downtrend, weighed down by restructuring costs, federal business headwinds, and market skepticism about the durability of consulting demand in an AI-driven world.
Cognizant, by contrast, is benefiting from a turnaround narrative. The company has delivered five consecutive quarters of organic revenue growth, expanded margins, and secured mega-deals — including two contracts exceeding $1 billion each in the second quarter of 2025 alone. Its book-to-bill ratio of 1.3x suggests a healthy pipeline. Where Accenture trades at a deep discount to its historical valuation multiples, Cognizant's valuation reflects cautious optimism. In terms of risk, Accenture faces uncertainty around its restructuring and the potential for AI to cannibalize parts of its traditional consulting business. Cognizant's risks include integration challenges from its Belcan acquisition and the possibility that its large-deal momentum could slow if enterprises pull back on discretionary spending.
Tickeron AI Verdict
Based on observable trend factors, Tickeron's AI-driven analytical framework would likely find a more constructive near-term setup in CTSH (Cognizant) relative to ACN (Accenture). Cognizant's consistent upward revisions to revenue guidance, expanding operating margins, record bookings, and a book-to-bill ratio above 1.3x signal improving operational momentum and a favorable demand environment. The stock has also benefited from analyst upgrades and appears to be riding a steadier trend pattern. Accenture, while fundamentally strong and deeply discounted on a valuation basis, faces persistent headwinds from restructuring uncertainty, slower growth guidance, and negative market sentiment that has not yet shown signs of reversing. That said, Accenture's extremely compressed P/E ratio and dominant GenAI franchise could make it a compelling candidate for a mean-reversion trade if sentiment shifts. As always, the AI's probabilistic assessment reflects current observable data — not a guarantee of future performance — and investors should consider how each stock fits within their own portfolio context.
Disclaimer
The information on this webpage is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice, a recommendation to purchase or sell any security, or an offer or solicitation related to investments. It does not consider your personal financial situation, goals, or risk profile, and all investing carries inherent risks, including the possibility of losing your entire investment. For more details, please review our full disclaimer.
To compare these two companies we present long-term analysis, their fundamental ratings and make comparative short-term technical analysis which are presented below. The conclusion is ACN is a Hold and CTSH is a Hold.
Long-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a long-term outlook for a ticker by using Fundamental Analysis (FA) ratings. The rating of 1 to 100, where 1 is best and 100 is worst, is divided into thirds. The first third (a green rating of 1-33) indicates that the ticker is undervalued; the second third (a grey number between 34 and 66) means that the ticker is valued fairly; and the last third (red number of 67 to 100) reflects that the ticker is undervalued. We use an FA Score to show how many ratings show the ticker to be undervalued (green) or overvalued (red).
ACN’s FA Score shows that 1 FA rating(s) are green whileCTSH’s FA Score has 1 green FA rating(s).
- ACN’s FA Score: 1 green, 4 red.
- CTSH’s FA Score: 1 green, 4 red.
Short-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a short-term outlook for a ticker by using Technical Analysis (TA) indicators. We use Odds of Success as the percentage of outcomes which confirm successful trade signals in the past.
If the Odds of Success (the likelihood of the continuation of a trend) for each indicator are greater than 50%, then the generated signal is confirmed. A green percentage from 90% to 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bullish trend. A red percentage from 90% - 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bearish trend. All grey percentages are below 50% and are considered not to confirm the trend signal.
ACN’s TA Score shows that 6 TA indicator(s) are bullish while CTSH’s TA Score has 6 bullish TA indicator(s).
- ACN’s TA Score: 6 bullish, 4 bearish.
- CTSH’s TA Score: 6 bullish, 4 bearish.
Price Growth
ACN (@Information Technology Services) experienced а +12.88% price change this week, while CTSH (@Information Technology Services) price change was +21.78% for the same time period.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Information Technology Services industry was +6.07%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +0.18%, and the average quarterly price growth was +37.66%.
Reported Earning Dates
ACN is expected to report earnings on Oct 01, 2026.
CTSH is expected to report earnings on Nov 04, 2026.
Industries' Descriptions
@Information Technology Services (+6.07% weekly)The industry, whose total market cap runs into trillions, makes hardware/software that allows data to be stored, retrieved, transmitted, and manipulated on computers. With the ever-increasing relevance of data, the information technology (IT) industry has gained momentous growth over the years, and continues to thrive on innovation. Some of the behemoths in the industry are International Business Machines Corporation, Accenture, and VMware, Inc.
| ACN | CTSH | ACN / CTSH | |
| Capitalization | 102B | 24.9B | 410% |
| EBITDA | 12.3B | 4.06B | 303% |
| Gain YTD | -36.516 | -32.501 | 112% |
| P/E Ratio | 13.25 | 11.88 | 112% |
| Revenue | 73.1B | 21.4B | 342% |
| Total Cash | 10.2B | 1.52B | 672% |
| Total Debt | 8.39B | 1.09B | 768% |
ACN | CTSH | ||
|---|---|---|---|
OUTLOOK RATING 1..100 | 37 | 50 | |
VALUATION overvalued / fair valued / undervalued 1..100 | 7 Undervalued | 10 Undervalued | |
PROFIT vs RISK RATING 1..100 | 100 | 100 | |
SMR RATING 1..100 | 38 | 57 | |
PRICE GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 55 | 45 | |
P/E GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 87 | 72 | |
SEASONALITY SCORE 1..100 | 50 | 50 |
Tickeron ratings are formulated such that a rating of 1 designates the most successful stocks in a given industry, while a rating of 100 points to the least successful stocks for that industry.
ACN's Valuation (7) in the Information Technology Services industry is in the same range as CTSH (10). This means that ACN’s stock grew similarly to CTSH’s over the last 12 months.
ACN's Profit vs Risk Rating (100) in the Information Technology Services industry is in the same range as CTSH (100). This means that ACN’s stock grew similarly to CTSH’s over the last 12 months.
ACN's SMR Rating (38) in the Information Technology Services industry is in the same range as CTSH (57). This means that ACN’s stock grew similarly to CTSH’s over the last 12 months.
CTSH's Price Growth Rating (45) in the Information Technology Services industry is in the same range as ACN (55). This means that CTSH’s stock grew similarly to ACN’s over the last 12 months.
CTSH's P/E Growth Rating (72) in the Information Technology Services industry is in the same range as ACN (87). This means that CTSH’s stock grew similarly to ACN’s over the last 12 months.
| ACN | CTSH | |
|---|---|---|
| RSI ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 57% | 3 days ago 55% |
| Stochastic ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 74% | 3 days ago 49% |
| Momentum ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 64% | 3 days ago 49% |
| MACD ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 60% | 3 days ago 51% |
| TrendWeek ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 58% | 3 days ago 53% |
| TrendMonth ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 58% | 3 days ago 50% |
| Advances ODDS (%) | 5 days ago 59% | 5 days ago 53% |
| Declines ODDS (%) | 11 days ago 64% | 11 days ago 57% |
| BollingerBands ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 68% | 3 days ago 53% |
| Aroon ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 52% | 3 days ago 50% |
Advertisement
ACN and
Correlation & Price change
A.I.dvisor indicates that over the last year, ACN has been closely correlated with EPAM. These tickers have moved in lockstep 76% of the time. This A.I.-generated data suggests there is a high statistical probability that if ACN jumps, then EPAM could also see price increases.
| Ticker / NAME | Correlation To ACN | 1D Price Change % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACN | 100% | +1.61% | ||
| EPAM - ACN | 76% Closely correlated | +1.83% | ||
| GLOB - ACN | 73% Closely correlated | +0.58% | ||
| EXLS - ACN | 72% Closely correlated | -1.25% | ||
| G - ACN | 71% Closely correlated | -0.45% | ||
| GIB - ACN | 69% Closely correlated | -0.12% | ||
More | ||||
CTSH and
Correlation & Price change
A.I.dvisor indicates that over the last year, CTSH has been closely correlated with ACN. These tickers have moved in lockstep 83% of the time. This A.I.-generated data suggests there is a high statistical probability that if CTSH jumps, then ACN could also see price increases.
| Ticker / NAME | Correlation To CTSH | 1D Price Change % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTSH | 100% | +2.70% | ||
| ACN - CTSH | 83% Closely correlated | +1.61% | ||
| EPAM - CTSH | 72% Closely correlated | +1.83% | ||
| EXLS - CTSH | 71% Closely correlated | -1.25% | ||
| G - CTSH | 70% Closely correlated | -0.45% | ||
| GIB - CTSH | 69% Closely correlated | -0.12% | ||
More | ||||