One-glance verdict
Overvalued
$114.83 our estimate vs market $170.38
Wall Street consensus: $250.50 (118.1% higher than our fair-value estimate)
48% above our estimate, beyond the bull case
Fundamentals snapshot
CRA International, Inc.
CRAI · NMS · Industrials · Consulting Services
Current price
$170.38
52-week range
$132.17 - $227.29
Market cap
$1.07B
Balance sheet
Stretched
15.51x Strong cushion
Net debt $282.21M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
1 Risk
3 rewards · 1 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 5.7% last year.
- Reward Returns 26.0% on equity, ahead of 50% of its peers.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
- Risk Net debt grew 20.4% over 3 years.
What this company does
CRA International, Inc.
CRA International is a consulting firm that acts as a team of hired experts, selling specialized advice to other companies facing big challenges like lawsuits or major business decisions. The company makes its money by billing for its consultants' time and analysis on these complex projects. This is important because their success relies heavily on maintaining a top-tier reputation, as clients are paying for knowledge and expert testimony they cannot develop on their own.
How the company got here
CRA International, also known as Charles River Associates, was started in 1965 by a group of professors from Harvard and MIT. Their original idea was to apply high-level economic theories to solve real-world legal and government challenges. For many years, it operated as a private firm, building a reputation for its deep expertise in complex situations. A key turning point was in 1998 when the company went public, meaning it started selling shares of its stock to the public, which gave it the resources to grow and acquire other specialized consulting firms.
What it actually does
Think of CRA International as a team of experts that other big companies, major law firms, and even governments hire to solve very complex problems. They provide consulting services, which means they give specialized advice and analysis for high-stakes situations. For example, they might be hired to figure out the financial damages in a major lawsuit, advise a company on whether a merger with a competitor would be approved by the government, or help a business develop a new pricing strategy. Their main product is the brainpower and expert testimony of their highly educated consultants.
Litigation, Regulatory, and Financial Consulting
This is the company's largest and most established area of business. In this segment, CRA's experts are hired to act as detectives and expert witnesses in legal and regulatory battles. For instance, in a lawsuit where one company accuses another of unfair business practices, CRA's consultants would analyze economic data to determine if any harm was done and calculate the financial damages (the amount of money owed). They also provide testimony in court and advise clients on matters before government agencies, covering areas like antitrust (rules about fair competition) and financial investigations.
Management Consulting
This part of the business helps corporate leaders make better strategic decisions to improve their company's performance. Instead of focusing on lawsuits, these consultants advise on business strategy, such as how to price a new product, how to improve operations, or how to value another company they might want to buy. This segment includes specialized teams that focus on specific industries, like life sciences (pharmaceutical and biotech companies) and energy. While historically smaller than the litigation side, it's a key area of growth for the company.
What management is betting on now
The company's leadership is focused on continuing to grow by expanding its range of expert services and attracting top talent. They are aiming to win more business both in North America and internationally, with a particular emphasis on growing their key practice areas like Antitrust & Competition Economics and Forensic Services. Management is also focused on maintaining healthy profitability, which they measure through a metric called EBITDA margin (a way to look at a company's operating profit as a percentage of its revenue). They aim to deliver steady returns to shareholders through things like dividends (a portion of profits paid out to investors) and stock buybacks (when a company buys its own shares to make the remaining ones more valuable).
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2025 Q3
$28.60M
FY2025 Q4
$68.83M
FY2026 Q1
$-80.97M
FY2026 Q2
$4.66M
FY2026 Q3
$35.90M
FY2026 Q4
$58.96M
FY2027 Q1
$-116.54M
FY2027 Q2
$-6.07M
Revenue
$210.81M
Net income
$13.51M
Diluted EPS
—
Operating cash flow
$-4.42M
Free cash flow
$-6.07M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$200.97M
Net income
$11.13M
Diluted EPS
—
Operating cash flow
$-113.89M
Free cash flow
$-116.54M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$196.96M
Net income
$13.19M
Diluted EPS
8.14
Operating cash flow
$60.02M
Free cash flow
$58.96M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$185.89M
Net income
$11.47M
Diluted EPS
—
Operating cash flow
$36.55M
Free cash flow
$35.90M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$186.88M
Net income
$12.12M
Diluted EPS
—
Operating cash flow
$5.85M
Free cash flow
$4.66M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$181.85M
Net income
$18.00M
Diluted EPS
—
Operating cash flow
$-79.99M
Free cash flow
$-80.97M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$176.44M
Net income
$14.99M
Diluted EPS
6.74
Operating cash flow
$79.42M
Free cash flow
$68.83M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$167.75M
Net income
$11.44M
Diluted EPS
—
Operating cash flow
$31.58M
Free cash flow
$28.60M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $114.83 vs current price $170.38
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $250.50 (118.1% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $114.83 a share — about 32.6% below today's price of $170.38, so the stock currently looks expensive (overvalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $282.2M. Interest coverage 15.5x.
Net debt
$282.21M
Interest coverage
15.51x
CRA International, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 15.5 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
CRAI
BASELINE
CRA International, Inc.
Total debt $303.65M Interest coverage 15.51x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $1.27B Interest coverage 19.37x +25% vs CRAI Carries about 1.2x more debt cushion than CRAI.
Total debt $865.16M Interest coverage 5.49x -65% vs CRAI Carries about 2.8x less debt cushion than CRAI.
Total debt $564.79M Interest coverage 4.72x -70% vs CRAI Carries about 3.3x less debt cushion than CRAI.
Total debt $80.72M Interest coverage 12.87x -17% vs CRAI Carries about 1.2x less debt cushion than CRAI.
Total debt $83.03M Interest coverage 15.53x +0% vs CRAI Has roughly the same debt cushion as CRAI.
What you should know
The case for and against CRAI
3 Rewards
1 Risk
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 5.7% last year.
-
Returns 26.0% on equity, ahead of 50% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 20.4% over 3 years.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
22.69x
Forward P/E
17.82x
P/B
5.86x
P/S
1.35x
EV/EBITDA
14.49x
PEG ratio
1.15x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
29.0%
Operating margin
11.2%
Net margin
6.2%
ROE
26.0%
ROA
7.7%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
1.67x
Current ratio
0.82x
Quick ratio
0.71x
Total debt
$303.65M
Total cash
$21.44M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$794.64M
Revenue 5Y CAGR
7.4%
EPS TTM
7.51
EPS 5Y CAGR
11.3%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$-21.75M
Free CF TTM
$18.56M
FCF margin
2.3%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
1.3%
Payout ratio
29.3%
Last ex-div date
2026-08-25