Accenture Shares Plummet 18%, IT Stocks Crash Amid Weak Guidance

Accenture shares dropped 18% following a cut to FY26 guidance, impacting the Indian IT sector. The company's warning led to a broader selloff in IT stocks. Accenture's weak outlook has raised concerns about the sector's health.

ACN shares plummeted roughly 18% after the IT services bellwether cut its FY26 outlook, lowering local-currency revenue growth guidance to 3-4% from a prior 3-5% and flagging weaker bookings. Fiscal third-quarter results, for the period ended May 31, beat on profit but missed on revenue and new bookings, and management cited economic uncertainty and demand headwinds tied to the situation in West Asia.

The warning sent shockwaves through the Indian IT sector, which reads Accenture as a demand proxy because the two share many of the same global enterprise clients. US-listed shares of Indian majors sold off, with the Infosys ADR down about 9.7% and Wipro off 3.6%. In domestic trade the Nifty IT index slid toward multi-year lows and broader benchmarks weakened as investors marked down growth expectations across the group.

The episode underscores how exposed IT services remain to discretionary spending on cloud and AI projects that clients can defer when budgets tighten. Accenture has now shed a substantial portion of its 2026 gains, and management signaled it is leaning into higher-growth areas such as infrastructure security while emphasizing workforce reskilling to navigate the shift.

For the sector, the read-through is cautious: until bookings and discretionary demand stabilize, IT services valuations could stay under pressure. Investors will look to upcoming results from TCS, Infosys and peers to gauge whether Accenture's caution reflects a company-specific stumble or a broader slowdown.