CaptainJJack

Where Is the Competitive Advantage for IT Companies?

I just sold my ACN shares @$38.

I bought in at $30 primarily because I have a discipline that requires my to buy when my Stock/Bond ratios get too low. Things were spooky at the time, and ACN had a strong balance sheet.

While I agree with your analysis on competitive advantage, (I personally think that the relationships are the key source of profitable advantage because it keeps the customers you have) the issue for me has never been with the company as much as the stock.

How do you possibly value a company with a price to book greater 8 times? What kind of metrics, other than P/E, are meaningful?

I got out of ACN even though I have no issues with the company, per se. I just feel like I got what I wanted (downside protection), and I got a 20% gain to boot.

And I had no way to know whether it was still a good deal, or not.

I wish there were more info on Book-to-Bill ratios. The only hard guidance management seemed to give were sales numbers; there was not much concerning new orders.

So, I sold.