RTTNews | Dec 16, 2021 07:26AM EST

07:25 Thursday, December 16, 2021 (RTTNews.com) - Shares of Accenture plc (ACN) are up more than 7% in pre-market on Thursday after reporting upbeat first-quarter results. The company also raised full-year outlook, better than the Street expectation.

Net income for the first quarter increased to $1.792 billion or $2.78 per share, from $1.502 billion or $2.32 per share for the same quarter a year ago.

On average 10 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $2.36 per share.

Revenue for the quarter increased 27% year-over-year to $14.965 billion, driven by growth in both consulting as well as outsourcing revenues. The consensus estimate was for $12.61 billion.

The company said its new bookings for the quarter were a record $16.8 billion, with record consulting bookings of $9.4 billion and outsourcing bookings of $7.4 billion.

For fiscal 2022, Accenture raised revenue outlook and now expects revenue growth to be in the range of 19% to 22%, compared with 12% to 15% previously. Analysts see revenue growth of 13.7% for the year.

The company also raised its EPS outlook for the full-year to the range of $10.32 to $10.60, from $9.90 to $10.18 previously. The consensus estimate stands at $9.01.

For the second quarter, Accenture expects revenues to be in the range of $14.30 billion to $14.75 billion. The street expects revenue of $12.61 billion for the quarter.

Accenture has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.97 per share for shareholders of record at the close of business on Jan. 13, 2022. The dividend, which is payable on Feb. 15, 2022, represents a 10% increase year-over-year.

ACN stock closed Wednesday's regular trading at $375.30, up $5.57 or $1.51%. It is currently at $405.04.

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