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

Company Overview

CRA International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides economic, financial, and management consulting services worldwide. It advises clients on economic and financial matters pertaining to litigation and regulatory proceedings; and guides corporations through business strategy and performance-related issues. The company also offers consulting services, including research and analysis, expert testimony, and support in litigation and regulatory proceedings in the areas of finance, accounting, economics, insurance, and forensic accounting and investigations to corporate clients and attorneys. In addition, it offers management consulting services comprising strategy development, performance improvement, corporate strategy and portfolio analysis, estimation of market demand, environmental, social and corporate governance and sustainability strategy and analysis, design and implementation of auction and bidding, new product pricing strategies, survey and market research, valuation of intellectual property and other assets, assessment of competitors' actions, and analysis of new sources of supply. The company serves various industries, including communications and media; consumer, health, and wellness products; energy; entertainment and leisure; financial services; healthcare; life sciences; manufacturing and industries; natural resources; retail and distribution; technology; and transportation. CRA International, Inc. was incorporated in 1965 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $185.00 to $188.49
• 50-Day Range: $160.87 to $195.43
• 52-Week Range: $133.54 to $214.01
• Volume: 171,596 shs
• Average Volume: 52,408 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.27 billion
• P/E Ratio: 25.24
• Dividend Yield: 1.05%
• Price Target: $228.00
• Consensus Rating: Buy

Charles River Associates Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Charles River Associates scored higher than 63% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 131st out of 311 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 only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.3 / 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 25.24, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 25.01.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Charles River Associates is 25.24, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Business Services sector average P/E ratio of about 28.13.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Charles River Associates has a PEG Ratio of 1.46. 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 5.98. 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

2.37% 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 1.9, 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 24.62%, 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 1.05%, 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 26.45%. 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

2.37% 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 1.9, 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 24.62%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.49

News Sentiment

Charles River Associates has a news sentiment score of 0.49. 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 lower news sentiment than the 0.88 average news sentiment score of Business Services companies.

News Coverage This Week

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

Search Interest

Only 1 people have searched for CRAI on MarketBeat 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 $1,759,455.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 5.20% 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 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, CRAI shares have decreased by 0.1% and is now trading at $187.03.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Charles River Associates' earnings last quarter?

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May, 1st. The business services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.29. The business services provider earned $181.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.63 million. Charles River Associates had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 25.88% and a net margin of 7.31%.
Read the conference call transcript.

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

• Last Earnings: 5/01/2025
• Record date for 6/13 Dividend: 5/27/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 6/13 Dividend: 5/27/2025
• Dividend Payable: 6/13/2025
• Today: 6/29/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 7/30/2025
• 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 Stock Price Target: $228.00
• High Stock Price Target: $228.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $228.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +21.9%
• Consensus Rating: Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 3.00
• Research Coverage: 1 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $7.41
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 25.24
• Forward P/E Ratio: 24.87
• P/E Growth: 1.46
• Net Income: $46.65 million
• Net Margins: 7.31%
• Pretax Margin: 10.31%
• Return on Equity: 25.88%
• Return on Assets: 9.44%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: N/A
• Current Ratio: 1.03
• Quick Ratio: 1.03

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $687.41 million
• Price / Sales: 1.85
• Cash Flow: $11.72 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 15.96
• Book Value: $31.28 per share
• Price / Book: 5.98

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 6,810,000
• Free Float: 6,489,000
• Market Cap: $1.27 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.93