Accenture Gains as Results Boosted by Demand for AI Services

45 minutes ago

Accenture (ACN) shares surged Thursday after the business management consultant reported better-than-expected revenue and gave solid guidance, citing higher demand for generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) services. The company also increased its dividend and stock buyback program.

The Dublin-based firm posted fourth-quarter revenue of $16.41 billion, up 2.6% year-over-year and ahead of consensus estimates of analysts polled by Visible Alpha. Earnings per share (EPS) of $2.66 and adjusted EPS of $2.79 matched estimates.

New bookings jumped 21% to $20.1 billion. New generative AI bookings reached $1.0 billion, and $3.0 billion for the fiscal year. 

Accenture raised its quarterly dividend 15% to $1.48, which will be paid on Nov. 15 to shareholders of record on Oct. 10. The board also approved an additional $4.0 billion in share repurchases, bringing the total outstanding authority up to $6.7 billion.

Accenture shares were up nearly 5% in afternoon trading, putting the stock back into positive territory for 2024.

–Bill McColl

Chinese Companies Listed in U.S. Soar Again

1 hr 4 min ago

Chinese shares listed in the U.S. shot up Thursday following reports that Beijing is planning more support measures and also pumping around $140 billion into its largest state lenders to prop up the country's struggling economy.

According to Bloomberg, Beijing is considering injecting up to 1 trillion yuan ($142 billion) of capital into its biggest state banks to increase their capacity to shore up the economy, its first such move since the global financial crisis of 2008.

 China had announced plans to inject money into its state lenders when it laid out a massive monetary stimulus package to boost the economy on Tuesday—but was scant on details.

Meanwhile, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that top leaders are pledging to support fiscal spending and stabilize the country's struggling real estate sector.

Appaloosa Management founder David Tepper said on CNBC Thursday that following China's stimulus, he would buy "everything" in China. "ETFs, I would do futures—everything. Everything," the famed hedge fund manager said.

The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China index (HXC)—an index of 64 China-based companies traded in the U.S.—was up nearly 11% in early afternoon trading. China-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also rose. The iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) jumped 8%, while the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) added 7%.

–Nisha Gopalan

Micron's Post-Earnings Pop Leads Chip Stocks Higher

3 hr 44 min ago

Micron Technology (MU) shares surged Thursday after the memory chip maker’s revenue and outlook blew past expectations, leading Nvidia (NVDA) and other semiconductor stocks higher. 

Shares of Micron were up over 16% in early trading, while shares of partner Nvidia gained close to 3%. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO), and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) and other chipmakers were all solidly higher in the first half hour of Thursday’s session.

Nvidia, Micron, and other chip companies have seen their revenue and stock prices climb amid a boom in demand for infrastructure to support artificial intelligence (AI).

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said Wednesday the company's fiscal fourth-quarter sales nearly doubled from a year ago to $7.75 billion, driven by "robust AI demand." Mehrotra also said the company's sales are expected to continue growing, projecting current-quarter revenue could reach a record high between $8.5 billion to $8.9 billion.

–Aaron McDade

Meta Price Levels to Watch as Stock Hits Record High

4 hr 54 min ago

Meta Platforms (META) shares are rising in premarket trading after hitting a record high on Wednesday as the tech giant kicked off its annual Connect conference. The company unveiled a lower-cost Quest 3S headset, Orion augmented reality glasses, new artificial intelligence (AI) features, and other tech gadgets at the highly anticipated event.

The stock broke out from a five-month ascending triangle on above-average volume earlier this month, with the share price continuing to track higher into the company's conference.

The measuring principle forecasts a price target in the stock of $700, while a bars pattern predicts an upside target of around $790.

Investors should also keep an eye on the $535 level, an area on the chart where prior resistance could become future support near the ascending triangle's upper trendline.

Read the full technical analysis piece here.

–Timothy Smith

Futures Point to Higher Open for Major indexes

5 hr 30 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.4%.

S&P 500 futures were up 0.8%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were up 1.5%.

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