Accenture beats by $0.03, beats on revs; guides Q1 revs below consensus; guides FY16 ~in-line; raises dividend 8%; adds $5 bln to buyback
- Reports Q4 (Aug) earnings of $1.15 per share, $0.03 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.12; revenues rose 1.4% year/year to $7.89 bln vs the $7.69 bln consensus, an increase of 1 percent in U.S. dollars and 12 percent in local currency and above the company's guided range of $7.45 billion to $7.70 billion.
- New bookings for the fourth quarter were $8.8 billion and reflect a negative 13 percent foreign-exchange impact compared with new bookings in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. Consulting new bookings were $4.1 billion, or 46 percent of total new bookings. Outsourcing new bookings were $4.7 billion, or 54 percent of total new bookings.
- Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees Q1 revs of $7.70-7.95 bln vs. $8.12 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
- Co issues guidance for FY16, sees EPS of $5.09-5.24 vs. $5.22 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY16 revs +1-4% (+5-8% local currency) to ~$31.36-32.29 bln vs. $32.6 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
- Accenture expects operating margin for the full fiscal year to be in the range of 14.6 percent to 14.8 percent, an expansion of 10 to 30 basis points from the adjusted operating margin of 14.5 percent in fiscal 2015.
- Accenture's Board of Directors has declared a semi-annual cash dividend of $1.10 per share, an increase of $0.08 per share, or 8 percent, over its previous semi-annual dividend, declared in March.
- The Board also approved $5 billion in additional share repurchase authority.