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

Company Overview

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ: CRAI) is a global consulting firm that provides economic, financial, and management consulting services to corporations, law firms, government agencies, and other organizations. The company supports clients on complex business, regulatory, legal, and strategic matters.

Its services include economic and competition analysis, antitrust and merger-related consulting, litigation support, regulatory and public policy advice, financial and valuation analysis, and business strategy. CRA also provides consulting related to energy and environment, intellectual property, technology, and performance improvement.

Founded in 1965, the company was originally known as Charles River Associates and later operated as CRA International before returning to the Charles River Associates name. The firm serves clients through offices in North America, Europe, and other international markets. Charles River Associates is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Maleh.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $161.40 to $165.99
• 50-Day Range: $149.95 to $190.04
• 52-Week Range: $132.17 to $227.29
• Volume: 121,816 shs
• Average Volume: 105,795 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.02 billion
• P/E Ratio: 21.56
• Dividend Yield: 1.41%
• Price Target: $245.00
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Charles River Associates Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Charles River Associates scored higher than 95% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 76th out of 667 stocks in the industrials sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.5 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Charles River Associates has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.50, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 1 buy rating, 1 hold rating, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Charles River Associates has a consensus price target of $245.00, representing about 51.3% upside from its current price of $161.88.

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: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 11.86%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Charles River Associates are expected to grow by 11.86% in the coming year, from $8.43 to $9.43 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Charles River Associates is 21.56, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 39.18.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Charles River Associates is 21.56, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Industrials sector average P/E ratio of about 25.79.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Charles River Associates has a PEG Ratio of 1.20. 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 4.97. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

4.99% 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 3.16, 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 decreased by 2.12%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Charles River Associates pays a meaningful dividend of 1.41%, 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 30.36%. 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 24.18% next year. This indicates that Charles River Associates will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.80

News Sentiment

Charles River Associates has a news sentiment score of 1.80. 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 0.76 average news sentiment score of Industrials companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for Charles River Associates this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.6 / 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 $389,812.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

4.50% 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.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 8/06/2026
• Record date for 9/14 Dividend: 8/25/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 9/14 Dividend: 8/25/2026
• Today: 9/13/2026
• Dividend Payable: 9/14/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 10/29/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Industrials
• Industry: Professional Services
• Sub-Industry: Research & Consulting Services
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:CRAI
• CIK: 1053706
• Web: www.crai.com
• Phone: (617) 425-3000
• Fax: 617-425-3132
• Employees: 959
• Year Founded: 1965

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Charles River Associates: $245.00
• High Price Target: $245.00
• Low Price Target: $245.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +51.3%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.50
• Research Coverage: 2 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $7.51
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 21.56
• Forward P/E Ratio: 19.20
• P/E Growth: 1.2
• Net Income: $54.78 million
• Net Margins: 6.20%
• Pretax Margin: 9.10%
• Return on Equity: 27.31%
• Return on Assets: 8.36%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: N/A
• Current Ratio: 0.82
• Quick Ratio: 0.82

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $751.58 million
• Price / Sales: 1.35
• Cash Flow: $12.93 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 12.52
• Book Value: $32.55 per share
• Price / Book: 4.97

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 6,280,000
• Free Float: 5,995,000
• Market Cap: $1.02 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.65