Charles River Associates (CRAI) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ: CRAI) is a global consulting firm specializing in economic, financial and management advisory services. Founded in 1965 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company provides expert analysis to support litigation, regulatory proceedings, and strategic decision-making. Its multidisciplinary teams draw on academic rigor and industry experience to deliver quantitative and qualitative insights tailored to clients’ needs.

The firm’s service offerings include competition economics, antitrust and merger analysis, intellectual property valuation and damages assessment, and risk management. In addition, Charles River Associates advises on financial restructuring, transfer pricing, and complex data analytics. Its professionals frequently serve as expert witnesses in high-profile legal disputes and regulatory reviews, providing testimony grounded in robust economic and statistical methodologies.

With offices across North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, Charles River Associates supports a diverse client base that includes corporations, law firms and government agencies. The company’s consultants serve industries such as energy and environmental markets, life sciences and healthcare, financial institutions, technology and communications, and transportation. This global footprint enables CRA to address cross-border matters and emerging regulatory challenges.

Led by teams of economists, financial analysts and industry specialists, Charles River Associates emphasizes a collaborative approach to problem-solving. The firm’s commitment to intellectual rigor and practical relevance has earned it a reputation for delivering actionable recommendations, helping clients navigate complex economic landscapes and achieve informed outcomes in litigation, regulatory reviews and strategic planning.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $193.59 to $196.75
• 50-Day Range: $170.16 to $202.84
• 52-Week Range: $152.57 to $214.01
• Volume: 81,631 shs
• Average Volume: 74,895 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.29 billion
• P/E Ratio: 23.81
• Dividend Yield: 1.00%
• Price Target: $228.00
• Consensus Rating: Buy

Charles River Associates Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Charles River Associates scored higher than 74% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 118th out of 313 stocks in the business services sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Buy

Consensus Rating

Charles River Associates has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 3.00, and is based on 1 buy rating, no hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Charles River Associates has received no research coverage in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 3.32%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Charles River Associates are expected to grow by 3.32% in the coming year, from $7.52 to $7.77 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Charles River Associates is 23.81, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 274.45.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Charles River Associates is 23.81, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Business Services sector average P/E ratio of about 26.94.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Charles River Associates has a PEG Ratio of 1.51. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Charles River Associates has a P/B Ratio of 6.29. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.19% of the float of Charles River Associates has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Charles River Associates has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.7, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Charles River Associates has recently increased by 9.97%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Charles River Associates pays a meaningful dividend of 1.01%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Charles River Associates has been increasing its dividend for 7 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Charles River Associates is 23.73%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Charles River Associates will have a dividend payout ratio of 25.23% next year. This indicates that Charles River Associates will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.19% of the float of Charles River Associates has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Charles River Associates has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 1.7, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Charles River Associates has recently increased by 9.97%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.45

News Sentiment

Charles River Associates has a news sentiment score of 1.45. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.74 average news sentiment score of Business Services companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for Charles River Associates this week, compared to 3 articles on an average week.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 2 people have added Charles River Associates to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Charles River Associates insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $328,002.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 4.70% of the stock of Charles River Associates is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

84.13% of the stock of Charles River Associates is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

CRAI Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have CRAI shares performed this year?

Charles River Associates' stock was trading at $187.20 at the start of the year. Since then, CRAI shares have increased by 5.1% and is now trading at $196.68.

How were Charles River Associates' earnings last quarter?

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July, 31st. The business services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.05. The business services provider earned $186.88 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $180.34 million. Charles River Associates had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 25.51% and a net margin of 7.93%.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are Charles River Associates' major shareholders?

Charles River Associates' top institutional shareholders include Geode Capital Management LLC (2.60%), Bank of New York Mellon Corp (0.63%), CSM Advisors LLC (0.40%) and Isthmus Partners LLC (0.31%). Insiders that own company stock include Paul A Maleh, Chad M Holmes, Jonathan D Yellin, Thomas Aiken Avery and Daniel K Mahoney.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Charles River Associates?

Shares of CRAI stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Charles River Associates own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Charles River Associates investors own include Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR), American Water Works (AWK), Waste Connections (WCN), The RMR Group (RMR), DiamondRock Hospitality (DRH), AU Optronics (AUOTY) and iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 6/13 Dividend: 5/27/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 6/13 Dividend: 5/27/2025
• Dividend Payable: 6/13/2025
• Last Earnings: 7/31/2025
• Record date for 9/12 Dividend: 8/26/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 9/12 Dividend: 8/26/2025
• Today: 9/04/2025
• Dividend Payable: 9/12/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 10/30/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Business Services
• Industry: Consulting
• Sub-Industry: Research & Consulting Services
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:CRAI
• CIK: 1053706
• Web: www.crai.com
• Phone: (617) 425-3000
• Fax: 617-425-3132
• Employees: 940
• Year Founded: 1965

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Charles River Associates: $228.00
• High Price Target: $228.00
• Low Price Target: $228.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +15.9%
• Consensus Rating: Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 3.00
• Research Coverage: 1 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $8.26
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 23.81
• Forward P/E Ratio: 26.15
• P/E Growth: 1.51
• Net Income: $46.65 million
• Net Margins: 7.93%
• Pretax Margin: 11.13%
• Return on Equity: 25.51%
• Return on Assets: 9.12%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: N/A
• Current Ratio: 0.92
• Quick Ratio: 0.92

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $712.91 million
• Price / Sales: 1.82
• Cash Flow: $11.89 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 16.54
• Book Value: $29.92 per share
• Price / Book: 6.57

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 6,584,000
• Free Float: 6,242,000
• Market Cap: $1.29 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.94