Accenture Stock Climbs 24% On A 9-Day Winning Streak

ACNYTD-8.6%SPYYTD+13.0%QQQYTD+17.2%
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Accenture (ACN) stock is on a 9-day winning streak, up 23.5% since the run began. That added about $27.1 billion to the company’s market value, which now stands at about $142.5 billion. The stock closed at $236.93 on Monday, October 19, 15.5% below its 52-week high of $280.46 and 94.2% above its low of $121.98.

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ACN Versus The S&P 500

Returns for ACN and the S&P 500 over the streak and the periods around it, all ending Monday, October 19 and including dividends:
 

Return Period ACN S&P 500
1 Day 3.2% 0.4%
9 Days (Current Streak) 23.5% -1.6%
1 Month (21 Trading Days) 31.7% 0.6%
3 Months (63 Trading Days) 69.6% 2.7%
Year To Date -8.6% 13.4%
1 Year (252 Trading Days) 4.8% 17.4%

How The Streak Compares With The Market

Over the same 9 trading days, the S&P 500 returned -1.6% including dividends, so the run is mostly Accenture’s own story rather than the market’s. 1 other S&P 500 stock is currently on winning streaks of 9 days or longer. Over the past three months the stock is up 69.6%, a window that includes the streak; over the other 54 sessions of that window it was up 37.3%.

Do The Fundamentals Support The Run?

On the fundamentals, revenue grew 6.5% over the last twelve months, against a median of 17.9% for S&P 500 Information Technology stocks; its operating margin is 15.8%, versus a median of 21.6%; and the stock trades at 17.0 times trailing earnings against a median of 34.2. The read is mixed: a multiple below the median on one side, revenue growth below the median and margins below the median on the other.

A climb like this is worth respecting, and worth testing. Our Guidance Momentum screen tracks the stocks whose companies just raised their own forward numbers.

For anyone who would rather back the theme than one company, a U.S. industrials ETF like IYJ holds the whole group, not just this stock. It is still a concentrated bet on one theme, which is the gap the portfolio below is built to close.

Momentum Is A Tailwind, Not A Plan

Riding a stock that rises every day feels effortless, and that is precisely the danger: the same momentum that built this run can reverse without notice, and one name’s reversal should never be able to reset your whole year.

That is what the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio is for: about 30 quality businesses screened for the fundamentals that survive momentum’s mood swings, held with rules. It has a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400, and the Russell 2000. Watch the runs; own the resilience.