By Mackenzie Tatananni
In the fallout of Accenture's dismal disappointing report, Wall Street continues to lower expectations.
Leading the retreat is TD Cowen analyst Bryan Bergin, who abandoned his bullish stance on Monday. Bergin downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy with a $150 price target, down from $258 previously. Shares were falling 5.6% to $120.85 on Monday.
"Our call for durability before potential recovery was wrong," Bergin wrote, "and sustaining the positive rating doesn't have a clear rationale as numbers go the wrong way." While recent pressure on Accenture shares stemmed largely from fears about artificial-intelligence disruption, the latest quarterly report prompted another round of estimate cuts.
Investors appeared to share his concerns. Shares fell 18% to $127.98 on Thursday after Accenture posted fiscal third-quarter results and announced a string of acquisitions aimed at expanding its cybersecurity business.
Investors have long expressed concerns about Accenture's acquisition strategy, and the report did little to ease worries about sluggish growth. The stock ended the week down nearly 25%, marking its worst weekly performance on record.
Bergin pointed to a 3% decline in bookings from the prior quarter, writing that the contraction "was not on our bingo card." While he felt consensus views were too high, he had still expected "modest growth."
Management attributed the weakness to several deals being pushed into fiscal 2027. However, Bergin noted that even when adjusting for this assumed $1 billion shortfall, managed services bookings still would have decreased -- an outcome he believes "would have challenged investor growth views" anyway.
As Bergin sees it, Accenture's financial profile won't recover as anticipated, leaving the stock without near-term catalysts. In the meantime, shares remain sensitive to headlines and selling pressure as AI broadly matures.
The downgrade makes Bergin one of the more cautious analysts covering the stock. Of 30 firms tracked by FactSet, 17 rate Accenture at Buy or Overweight. Another 13 rate it Hold, and none rate it Sell.
Jefferies analyst Surinder Thind has been wary of the company's growth prospects for months, flagging softening demand as far back as March, at the time of Accenture's previous earnings report.
The analyst on Monday lowered his price target on the shares to $130 from $185, citing lower revenue and earnings estimates for calendar 2027. He reiterated a Hold rating on Accenture stock.
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East -- which Accenture CEO Julie Sweet cited as one factor affecting results -- "is putting further pressure on weak discretionary spend," Thind wrote.
He believes that as AI capabilities advance, the total addressable market of Accenture's more traditional services offering "is shrinking faster than anticipated, especially among its larger, more sophisticated clients." Moving forward, this likely means a higher sustained level of investment to develop and acquire new solutions.
The company has partnered with AI leaders including OpenAI and Anthropic to develop agentic offerings for clients. But even in the face of these deals -- and Sweet's repeated emphasis on AI-driven growth -- the company's vision of an AI-powered future is being overshadowed by concerns about slowing growth today.
Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 22, 2026 12:25 ET (16:25 GMT)
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