Accenture Q1 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Top

Accenture plc (ACN – Analyst Report) reported first-quarter fiscal 2016 earnings per share of $1.28, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.31 per share. Also, on a year-over-year basis, earnings decreased 1% from $1.29 per share. The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to the negative impact of a higher tax rate.

Revenues and Bookings

Accenture’s first-quarter net revenue not only increased 1.5% year over year to $8.013 billion but also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $7.896 billion. Net revenue also came ahead of management’s guided range of $7.70 billion and $7.95 billion, primarily aided by a 6% increase in Consulting revenues ($4.35 billion), which more than offset a 4% decline in Outsourcing revenues ($3.67 billion).

Among the operating segments, Communications, Media & Technology revenues were up 1% on a year-over-year basis to $1.60 billion. Revenues from Health & Public Services and Financial Services increased 4% and 2% year over year to $1.42 billion and $1.75 billion, respectively. Revenues from Products also increased 3% on a year-over-year basis and came in at $1.99 billion. Resources, however, decreased 4% on a year-over-year basis to $1.25 billion during the quarter.

Geographically, revenues from the North Americas increased 9% on a year-over-year basis, while revenues from Europe and Growth Markets (Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Russia and Turkey) were down 1% and 12%, respectively, from the year-ago quarter.

Accenture reported new bookings of $7.7 billion during the quarter, which were negatively impacted by foreign currency fluctuations. Consulting bookings and Outsourcing bookings for the quarter amounted to $4.4 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively.

Operating Results

First quarter gross margin decreased 20 basis points (bps) on a year-over-year basis and came in at 32%, primarily due to higher cost of services.

Operating expenses decreased 0.8% from the year-ago quarter to $1.34 million, primarily due to lower sales and marketing expenses. As a percentage of net revenue, operating expenses were down 40 bps on a year-over-year basis and came in at 16.7%.

Accenture’s operating income came in at $1.22 billion or 15.2% of net revenue compared with $1.19 billion or 15% of revenues reported in the year-ago quarter. Lower operating expenses positively impacted the operating results. Accenture reported $858.5 million in net income or $1.28 per share.