ACN vs NRILY: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: ACN is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. ACN and NRILY share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined ACN and NRILY exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Accenture is a global professional services company that helps businesses, governments, and other organizations across more than 120 countries build digital infrastructure, optimize operations, and accelerate growth. The company operates across five major service areas: Strategy and Consulting, Technology Services, Operations, Industry X (engineering and manufacturing digitization), and Song (marketing and customer experience). It earns revenue through a mix of consulting engagements, managed services contracts, and increasingly fixed-price, outcome-based arrangements, with managed services growing faster at roughly 10% year over year as of Q2 FY2026. The company serves clients in virtually every major industry vertical, from financial services and health to communications and government, and generates the majority of its revenue outside North America.

Full ACN guide

Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (NRI) builds, runs and consults on information systems for large Japanese companies and government bodies. It reports four segments. Financial IT Solutions is the largest, with ~¥405 billion of revenue in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026 (FY3/2026), serving securities firms, insurers and banks with custom systems and with shared platforms that many clients run on at once, such as THE STAR for brokerage back offices, T-STAR for asset managers and BESTWAY for bank fund sales. Industrial IT Solutions (~¥280 billion) serves distribution, manufacturing, services and the public sector. IT Platform Services (~¥222 billion, much of it internal to the other segments) runs data centers, cloud and security, and Consulting (~¥69 billion) is the think-tank and strategy arm. Group revenue was ¥814.7 billion, up 6.5%, and overseas revenue was only ~13% of the total.

Full NRILY guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• ACN drivers: Enterprise AI implementation at scale; Shift to recurring, outcome-based revenue.
• NRILY drivers: Financial IT and shared platforms; AI as a product and as a cost lever.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The most structural bear-case concern is AI cannibalization: if generative AI and agentic AI tools automate the coding, testing, documentation, and process management that make up a significant portion of Accenture's billable work, clients may require fewer hours per engagement, compressing revenue without a commensurate reduction in costs. For NRILY, the most visible risk is that NRI's acquisitions abroad keep disappointing: the ~¥97 billion of FY3/2026 impairments at NRI Australia and Core BTS wiped out most of that year's reported profit, and the new targets of ~¥120 billion of overseas revenue at a ~5% margin still have to be delivered by businesses that shrank last year.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick ACN if you believe its drivers more; NRILY if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the ACN and NRILY guides.

ACN. Accenture's trailing P/E of roughly 10 to 13x represents a sharp discount to its own 5-year average of approximately 25x, a compression driven by AI cannibalization fears, federal spending headwinds, and a broader de-rating of large-cap professional services stocks rather than by any deterioration in underlying earnings, which have continued to grow. Operating margins near 17% and projected free cash flow of $10.8 billion to $11.5 billion in FY2026 reflect a business that is fundamentally sound and continuing to expand profitability. The elevated dividend yield above 3.5% (elevated because the share price has fallen roughly 38 to 40% over the prior 12 months) is now higher than Accenture's long-run average and is well covered by both earnings (roughly 52% payout ratio) and cash flows.

NRILY. The reported numbers for FY3/2026 look worse than the business underneath them. Operating profit of ¥58.3 billion and earnings per share of ¥26.62 include ~¥97 billion of non-cash impairments, while business profit, which excludes those one-offs, grew 16.3% and operating cash flow rose 13.4% to ¥147.6 billion. Guidance for FY3/2027 implies a return to ~¥175 billion of operating profit and basic EPS of ~¥207, close to the run rate the June 2026 quarter suggested (EPS of ¥51.42 for three months). A shrinking share count from buybacks and cancellations adds to per-share growth. All figures are in yen; NRILY's dollar price moves with both the Tokyo share price and the exchange rate.

Headline figures (approximate, 2026-06-27): ACN shows revenue (ttm) ~$72 billion, revenue (fy2025, ended aug 31 2025) ~$69.7 billion (+7% YoY), q3 fy2026 revenue ~$18.7 billion (+5.6% YoY), q3 fy2026 eps (diluted) ~$3.82 (vs $3.52 in Q3 FY2025); NRILY shows revenue (fy3/2026) ~¥814.7B (+6.5%), revenue (ttm to june 2026) ~¥829B, business profit (fy3/2026, excl. impairments) ~¥156.7B (19.2% margin), operating profit guidance (fy3/2027) ~¥175B on ~¥850B revenue.

ACN and NRILY are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined ACN and NRILY exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.