Global professional services company Accenture (NYSE: ACN) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 8.3% year on year to $18.04 billion. On the other hand, next quarter’s revenue guidance of $18.68 billion was less impressive, coming in 0.5% below analysts’ estimates. Its GAAP profit of $2.93 per share was 3.4% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Accenture (ACN) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:
- Revenue: $18.04 billion vs analyst estimates of $17.89 billion (8.3% year-on-year growth, 0.8% beat)
- EPS (GAAP): $2.93 vs analyst estimates of $2.83 (3.4% beat)
- Revenue Guidance for Q2 CY2026 is $18.68 billion at the midpoint, below analyst estimates of $18.78 billion
- EPS (GAAP) guidance for the full year is $13.38 at the midpoint, roughly in line with what analysts were expecting
- Operating Margin: 13.8%, in line with the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 20.3%, up from 16.1% in the same quarter last year
- Market Capitalization: $120.1 billion
Company Overview
With a workforce of approximately 774,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture (NYSE: ACN) is a professional services firm that helps organizations transform their businesses through consulting, technology, operations, and digital services.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul.
With $72.11 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Accenture is a behemoth in the business services sector and benefits from economies of scale, giving it an edge in distribution. This also enables it to gain more leverage on its fixed costs than smaller competitors and the flexibility to offer lower prices.
As you can see below, Accenture grew its sales at an impressive 9.6% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This is an encouraging starting point for our analysis because it shows Accenture’s demand was higher than many business services companies.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss new innovations or demand cycles. Accenture’s annualized revenue growth of 5.7% over the last two years is below its five-year trend, but we still think the results were respectable. 
This quarter, Accenture reported year-on-year revenue growth of 8.3%, and its $18.04 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 0.8%. Company management is currently guiding for a 5.3% year-on-year increase in sales next quarter.
Looking further ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 5.4% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection is above the sector average and suggests its newer products and services will help support its recent top-line performance.
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Operating Margin
Accenture’s operating margin has more or less stayed the same over the last 12 months , averaging 14.7% over the last five years. This profitability was top-notch for a business services business, showing it’s an well-run company with an efficient cost structure.
Looking at the trend in its profitability, Accenture’s operating margin might fluctuated slightly but has generally stayed the same over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability.
In Q1, Accenture generated an operating margin profit margin of 13.8%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.
Earnings Per Share
We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.
Accenture’s decent 7.7% annual EPS growth over the last five years aligns with its revenue performance. This tells us it maintained its per-share profitability as it expanded.
Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.
For Accenture, its two-year annual EPS growth of 5.2% was lower than its five-year trend. This wasn’t great, but at least the company was successful in other measures of financial health.
In Q1, Accenture reported EPS of $2.93, up from $2.82 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 3.4%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Accenture’s full-year EPS of $12.21 to grow 17.4%.
Key Takeaways from Accenture’s Q1 Results
It was good to see Accenture beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also happy its revenue narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its revenue guidance for next quarter slightly missed and its full-year EPS guidance was in line with Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this was a softer quarter. The stock traded down 2.8% to $189.50 immediately after reporting.
Is Accenture an attractive investment opportunity right now? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
