IT service provider Accenture beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter revenue on December 19, on the back of growing demand for its services to help clients adopt AI-powered tools.

Shares of the company rose 5% in premarket trading. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $3.59, a 16% increase compared to $3.10 for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, and an increase of 10% over adjusted EPS of $3.27 for the first quarter last year.

Accenture said its "strong Q1FY25 results reflect broad-based revenue growth across all markets and industry groups".

Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture, said: “Our strategy to lead reinvention for clients while continuing to invest in our business has given us a strong start to fiscal 2025. We delivered broad-based revenue growth across both consulting and managed services, and across each market and industry group, gaining market share. First quarter new bookings were $18.7 billion, including 30 quarterly client bookings of more than $100 million, and we continued to lead in helping our clients realise value with generative AI, with new bookings of $1.2 billion. On behalf of our leadership team, I want to thank our nearly 799,000 Accenture people whose commitment to our clients' success makes these results possible.”

The company's new bookings rose to $18.7 billion for the first quarter from $18.4 billion a year earlier.

Accenture's first-quarter revenue stood at $17.7 billion, beating analysts' estimates of $17.12 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company expects annual revenue to grow between 4% and 7%, compared with analysts' expectations of 5.63%. It had earlier forecast growth of 3%-6%.