Accenture Plc's third-quarter revenue and profit came in above Wall Street estimates on Thursday as the consulting and outsourcing services provider benefited from its plan to boost investments in digital and cloud services. Shares of the Dublin, Ireland-based company were up 1.7 percent at $158 in light volumes in premarket trading. Revenue from its digital, cloud and security-related services, which the company terms as "the New", made up about 60 percent of total revenue.
Accenture has spent more than $3 billion over the last three years on some 70 acquisitions to boost its digital and cloud services in order to compete better with Cognizant and IBM.
The company forecast current-quarter revenue between $9.8 billion and $10.05 billion, the midpoint of which was slightly below average analyst estimate of $10.01 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net income attributable to the company rose to $1.04 billion in the quarter ended May 31 from $669.5 million a year earlier. It reported earnings of $1.60 per share, compared with $1.05 a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned $1.79 per share, above analysts' estimates of $1.72 per share. The company's net revenue rose 15.8 percent to $10.84 billion, beating estimates of $10.04 billion.