For much of 2026, investors have sorted stocks into two groups: companies that artificial intelligence will help, and companies it will hurt. Two reports this week gave investors reason to rethink that sorting. Accenture, which many investors had put in the "hurt" group, reported a strong quarter on October 1, 2026. Alphabet, which needed to prove it could keep up with OpenAI and Anthropic, released its most advanced model yet. A day earlier, the September jobs report showed information-services employers cutting 10,000 jobs, which CNBC tied to worries about AI's effect on work.
The rest of the market was mixed. On October 2, 2026, the weak jobs report cut the odds of an October rate hike, and the Nasdaq hit a record high during the session. Both of these stocks still trade well below their 52-week highs, though, which suggests investors haven't settled the AI question yet.
Accenture (NYSE: ACN)
Accenture is a consulting firm that charges clients for the work of its staff. That's why investors worried that AI tools could shrink demand for its services. Its fiscal fourth-quarter results eased some of that worry. For the quarter ended August 31, 2026, revenue reached $18.68 billion. That beat the LSEG consensus of $18.03 billion and topped the company's own guidance range. Revenue grew 6% in dollars and 7% in local currency. Earnings per share of $3.29 also beat the $3.18 to $3.19 range analysts expected.
New bookings were the bigger surprise. Accenture signed $22.17 billion in new business, compared with an analyst estimate of about $19.90 billion. That included a record 141 deals worth $100.00 million or more each. CEO Julie Sweet called the company a "bridge between AI and outcomes." She said clients care about growth and cost savings, not AI for its own sake.
For fiscal 2026, revenue rose 6% to $74.20 billion, and adjusted EPS rose 8% to $13.97. For fiscal 2027, management expects:
Revenue growth of 3% to 6% in local currency
GAAP diluted EPS of $14.39 to $14.81
Free cash flow of $11.00 billion to $11.80 billion
At least $9.50 billion returned to shareholders
The quarterly dividend also rose 5% to $1.71 per share.
The stock closed up nearly 16% on October 1, 2026, at $212.30, which CNBC said was set to be its best day ever. On October 2, investors took some profits, and ACN traded at $199.32 midday, down 6.11%. The market cap is $121.97 billion and the P/E ratio is 14.75. The stock is 68.70% above its 52-week low of $118.15 but 31.53% below its 52-week high of $291.09.
Analysts raised their targets quickly on October 2, 2026:
Goldman Sachs: $260.00, from $230.00
Evercore ISI: $250.00, from $180.00
RBC Capital: $240.00, from $175.00
Truist: $220.00, from $150.00, but kept a Hold rating
The average target of $228.83 implies 14.81% upside. Stifel analyst David Grossman wrote that Accenture is "the only professional services provider at scale" that has shown it can repeatedly retrain its workforce around new technology cycles.
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)
On September 30, 2026, after the market closed, Google released Gemini 4 Argon, its first major new AI model in months. Investing.com reported that the model is built for long, complex tasks in software engineering, legal and financial work, and cybersecurity. It can produce up to one million tokens in a single response, about 16 times the previous generation's limit. Google says Argon leads on 12 of 18 benchmarks it disclosed. The model is going first to a small group of cybersecurity specialists. Paid API customers and Google AI Ultra subscribers are next, at an introductory price of $2.00 per million input tokens.
The stock moved unevenly. It rose in early trading on October 1, 2026, then closed at $338.24. On October 2, GOOGL traded at $343.85, up 1.66%. Alphabet's market cap is $4.16 trillion and its P/E ratio is 17.11. The stock is 45.80% above its 52-week low of $235.84 and 15.85% below its 52-week high of $408.61.
Analysts remain mostly bullish. Piper Sandler reaffirmed its Overweight rating with a $400.00 target on September 28, 2026. The firm noted that TSMC's capacity to make AI chips, including Google's custom Tensor Processing Units, is sold out through 2028. Evercore ISI raised its target to $450.00, and Tigress Financial has the Street-high target at $485.00. The average target of $424.80 implies 23.54% upside. UBS has the most cautious view, with a Neutral rating and a $379.00 target.
What to Watch
Alphabet reports third-quarter results in late October, and investors will look closely at Google Cloud's growth and capital spending. For Accenture, the key question is whether bookings stay strong in the first quarter of fiscal 2027. Management guided to revenue of $18.95 billion to $19.60 billion for that quarter. Pricing for Gemini 4 Argon could also come under pressure once it reaches paying customers. The Federal Reserve's October 27–28, 2026 meeting is the main macro event before both companies' next reports.
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