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Accenture Fourth Quarter Earnings Preview

Accenture (ACN) logoConsulting firm Accenture (ACN) will be reporting its fiscal fourth quarter earnings after the market close tomorrow, with analysts expecting to see the company report earnings of $0.63 per share, in-line with the same period last year.

The company has issued its guidance, and expects to see revenues in a range of $5.15 to $5.35 billion. For full year earnings, the company now expects earnings somewhere between $2.61 to $2.69, on the lower end of previous guidance.

Continue reading Accenture Fourth Quarter Earnings Preview

Google (GOOG) Apps gets a big boost from Capgemini

Capgemini, the largest computer consulting firm in Europe, will begin to market Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) Apps to its corporate customers. It would have been hard for the big search company to get a better endorsement. Capgemini global outsourcing chief executive Paul Spence said, "Incorporating Google Apps Premier Edition into our offering is yet one more way that we are helping our clients adopt technological innovations within a robust and tested framework."

Google Apps has companies' e-mail, spreadsheet, word processing, and presentation software packaged into one bundle. The software operates on PCs with most of the processing being done on Google servers instead of one the PC itself, the way that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has done so far.

The move has to be considered as a fairly big blow to Microsoft Office. Since its launch, Google Apps has been characterized as a nice, inexpensive solution for small businesses. It does not appear to have been widely adopted even in that market, but having a large IT consulting firm offering the software could begin to change that perception.

Microsoft, which is beginning to market desktop software that operates on servers to compete with Google, does not need a big boost for Google right now.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Cap Gemini in play? Really?

Indian information technology (IT) firm Infosys (NASDAQ: INFY) has been a fast grower over the years. Of course, with relatively lower wage rates, it's easier to compete on contract bids.

But growth cannot go on forever. So might we see some big M&A deals in the sector?

Well, last week, there was a rumor that Infosys was thinking of buying Cap Gemini, which is a mega IT consulting firm in France. Investors were certainly taking things seriously as Cap Gemini's stock surged 6%.

To get some perspective on things, I interviewed Michael Guilbault, who is the senior analyst of professional services at Technology Business Research Inc.

His take? He thinks the probability of a deal is "close to zero."

Why? Guilbault points out that Infosys has focused on mostly small acquisition targets. Also, a key asset for Infosys is its culture and that could be vulnerable in a massive deal.

According to him:

"Recent history in the professional services industry shows integrating consultancies into the corporate fold is one of the most challenging kinds of mergers. Infosys isn't going to buy a bear and have to transform it into a gazelle; they'd rather just keep feeding the gazelle."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

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DJIA-74.9212,454.83
NASDAQ-1.852,837.53
S&P 500-2.861,317.82

Last updated: May 26, 2012: 08:02 AM

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