IT services provider Accenture missed Wall Street expectations for the second-quarter revenue on Thursday, despite improving full-year revenue forecast driven by artificial intelligence (AI) solutions that help clients integrate the technology to enhance productivity.

The IT consulting firm reported revenue of $18 billion, compared with analysts' average estimate of $18.72 billion based on LSEG data, representing an increase of 8% in US dollars year-on-year.

New bookings during the quarter increased 6 percent to $22.11 billion, with consulting bookings of $11.33 billion and managed services bookings of $10.78 billion.

This is also the first quarter when the IT company did not disclose its standalone advanced AI bookings and revenues, in line with what the company had announced last quarter. The world’s largest IT company had said that the metric has become less meaningful as AI is increasingly embedded across nearly all client work.

Nevertheless, Accenture's revised outlook on March 19 anticipates full-year revenue growth to be within the range of 3 percent to 5 percent, compared to its earlier projection of 2 percent to 5 percent.

Accenture follows a September-August financial year.

In premarket trading, the company's shares were down over 6 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

Accenture's performance is widely regarded as a benchmark for the Indian IT industry, providing a glimpse into the expected outcomes for Indian IT companies.

Given that a substantial portion of Accenture's workforce is based in India, its results often serve as an indicator of the broader trends and potential outcomes within the Indian IT sector.

Last month, Nasdaq-listed IT services firm and Accenture’s rival Cognizant Technology Solutions beat its fourth-quarter revenue guidance, offering early evidence that its billion-dollar AI push is beginning to translate into growth, even as client spending remains measured and sequential visibility stays cautious.

Accenture Chair and CEO Julie Sweet said “We delivered record second quarter bookings of $22.1 billion, including a record 41 clients with quarterly bookings greater than $100 million, with revenues at the top of our guided range, while continuing to take significant share in a competitive market.”

She added, “We’re accelerating our critical work with clients to scale advanced AI across their enterprise, and we're seeing strong AI-driven growth. Our new strategic acquisitions will further strengthen our capabilities and expand our scale to help clients create value and achieve AI-based transformation.”

Delving deeper

Geography-wise, revenue increased by 4 percent year-on-year to $8.9 billion in North America, while revenue from the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region increased by 13 percent to $6.57 billion. Revenue from other markets also went up by 12 percent.

On the verticals front, the largest one - products business – increased 8 percent at $5.48 billion year-on-year. Next in line, the health & public service vertical increased by 2 percent to $3.67 billion year-on-year. Financial services vertical too saw a rebound growing 13 percent to $3.4 billion.