Chief Executive Julie Sweet reported that the firm is grappling with a dual challenge: localized conflict in the Middle East and a broader trend of corporate hesitation. Clients are delaying significant managed-services commitments, choosing to tighten discretionary spending even while the demand for AI integration remains a core engine for the company.

Accenture now projects current-quarter revenue between $17.75 billion and $18.4 billion, missing analyst expectations of $18.48 billion. The company also tightened its annual local-currency revenue growth target to a range of 3% to 4%. Despite these setbacks, the firm is aggressively expanding its footprint in industrial cybersecurity, underscored by a $4 billion investment strategy that includes acquiring a majority stake in Dragos. While net income climbed to $2.34 billion, the combination of missed revenue targets and a decline in new bookings to $19.3 billion has left investors wary of the firm’s immediate trajectory.