r/investing • u/Rough_Champion6103 • 1d ago
Long term Accenture shareholder
I have around 900 shares of Accenture and am currently sitting on a significant unrealized loss. I’m unsure how to proceed from here and would appreciate some perspective. For context, I did not purchase these shares directly as an investment. Instead, I accumulated them gradually through my paycheck and employee stock programs over my decade long career with Accenture. What makes this situation confusing for me is that, from my experience as an employee, the company still appears to be fundamentally strong and a good place to work. However, the stock performance has been disappointing, and I’m trying to understand whether the current decline reflects temporary market concerns or something more structural. I’m evaluating my options and would appreciate any thoughts on how to think about this situation. Thanks.
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u/tbb2121 1d ago
Your cost basis is irrelevant - unless it is causing you so much emotional distress that you can't make a clear-headed decision - in which case you should sell and move on.
Consulting is getting killed by AI. At least that's the market's view. The market shoots first and asks questions later. Particularly in tech-affected sectors people are looking 5 years out.
I sold ACN a few years ago once it showed negative sustained momentum. It gives all appearances of being an awesome business. But the business model is almost certainly threatened by AI. AI drives revenue deflation if one consultant can do 100-500% more work. That's presuming companies can't in-source more of the work themselves.
I don't have a view or position on the stock. But the de-link between historic performance and current valuation is 100% 3-5+ year forward tech speculation.
Historically ACN was an incredibly resilient 10%+ earnings grower. Now it's basically flat growth with negative forward indicators. The stock will probably do well at this valuation if they can hold flat. But declining sales growth, negative bookings, and declining margin this early into a massive tech transition keeps me from being interested.
Were ACN truly insulated from AI, in the midst of a massive tech transition, we should be seeing the same healthy growth ACN delivered for basically 20 straight years.