Accenture To Help SAP Enhance Recipe Development Application

Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) yesterday announced that it is partnering with SAP to enhance capabilities for the SAP Recipe Development application.

Useful to process industry participants such as consumer goods, life sciences and chemical companies, the application uses real-time collaborative processes to provide calculations on costs, nutrients or ingredients on a single screen. It helps streamline product development, optimize supply chains and reduce wastes.

With enhanced capabilities, the application will be able to share up-to-date information on costs, nutrients and compliance, and details reflecting vegetarian or vegan products, across the entire recipe development process. Nestlé is one of the first companies planning to use the enhanced solution.

We believe that this partnership will benefit Accenture’s Product segment that serves consumer goods and life sciences companies, and Resources Segment that serves chemical companies.

Both segments did well in the last reported quarter. Products revenues of $3.08 billion increased 4% year over year on a reported basis and 8% in local currency. Resources revenues of $1.75 billion increased 13% year over year on a reported basis and 19% in terms of local currency.

We observe that shares of Accenture have gained 34.5% year to date, outperforming the 31.2% rally of the industry it belongs to.

Zacks Rank and Stocks to Consider

Accenture currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector are Huron Consulting (NASDAQ:HURN) , Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) and Nielsen (NYSE:NLSN) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Long-term expected earnings (three to five years) growth rate for Huron, Charles River and Nielsen is 13.5%, 13% and 12%, respectively. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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