Accenture plc (ACN) stock traded lower by more than 1% Monday as investors pulled back from technology stocks ahead of the company's earnings report.

The Nasdaq fell 0.63%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.30%.

Earnings In Focus

Accenture is scheduled to report earnings Oct. 1.

Wall Street expects adjusted EPS of $3.18 on revenue of about $18.04 billion, compared with $3.03 and $17.60 billion a year earlier. Accenture will release fiscal fourth-quarter results before the opening bell on Oct. 1.

Investor attention is likely to center on discretionary spending, large-deal activity and the company's outlook, given recent concerns about underlying demand.

Those areas have already drawn scrutiny. Guggenheim downgraded Accenture to Neutral earlier this month after channel checks showed "no corresponding improvement in demand."

The firm said large-deal decision cycles remained extended and cited a lack of recovery in discretionary spending and continued competitive pricing pressure on larger projects.

Accenture Analyst Outlook

The stock carries a Buy consensus rating with an average price forecast of $195.69.

• Susquehanna maintained a Neutral rating Sept. 28 and raised its price forecast to $153.
• JPMorgan maintained an Overweight rating Sept. 25 and raised its price forecast to $200.
• BMO Capital maintained a Market Perform rating Sept. 23 and also raised its price forecast to $200.

ETF Exposure

Accenture is held by several exchange-traded funds.

• The State Street SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (ARCA) has a 3.02% weighting in Accenture.
• The VictoryShares Free Cash Flow ETF (NASDAQ) has a 3.42% weighting.
• The iShares Core Dividend ETF (BATS) has a 4.78% weighting.

As a result, sizable inflows or outflows from these ETFs can contribute to trading activity in Accenture shares.

Accenture Technical Analysis

ACN traded at $174.01, sitting 5.1% below its 20-day simple moving average of $184.68 and 11.3% below its 200-day SMA of $197.50.

The stock was also 0.4% below its 50-day SMA of $175.96. That puts the shares near an important intermediate trend level.

Momentum remains soft. The MACD is below its signal line, while the histogram is negative. That suggests buying momentum has weakened.

ACN shares are down 29.14% over the past 12 months. The 20-day SMA remains above the 50-day SMA, which is a constructive short-term signal. However, the 50-day SMA remains below the 200-day average, keeping the longer-term trend weak.

Resistance is near $198. Support is near $170.

MarketDash Edge Rankings

The MarketDash Edge scorecard gives Accenture a Momentum score of 40.94 and a Quality score of 44.22.

Its Value score stands at 19.42, while its Growth score is 16.46.

The rankings point to mixed momentum and quality alongside weaker growth and value readings.

Accenture Price Action

Accenture shares were down 1.20% at $174 at the time of publication Monday, according to market data.