Charles River Associates (CRAI) & Its Competitors Head to Head Survey

Charles River Associates (NASDAQ:CRAI) is one of 20 publicly-traded companies in the “Consulting” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Charles River Associates to similar businesses based on the strength of its valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Charles River Associates and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Charles River Associates	0	0	1	0	3.00
Charles River Associates Competitors	69	677	1253	61	2.63

Charles River Associates presently has a consensus target price of $228.00, suggesting a potential upside of 16.10%. As a group, “Consulting” companies have a potential upside of 22.77%. Given Charles River Associates’ competitors higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Charles River Associates has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Dividends

Charles River Associates pays an annual dividend of $1.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Charles River Associates pays out 26.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Consulting” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.1% and pay out 34.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Charles River Associates has raised its dividend for 7 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Charles River Associates and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Charles River Associates	7.31%	25.88%	9.44%
Charles River Associates Competitors	7.79%	28.02%	8.76%

Volatility & Risk

Charles River Associates has a beta of 0.91, suggesting that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Charles River Associates’ competitors have a beta of 0.69, suggesting that their average stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.1% of Charles River Associates shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.1% of shares of all “Consulting” companies are held by institutional investors. 5.2% of Charles River Associates shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of shares of all “Consulting” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Charles River Associates and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Charles River Associates	$687.41 million	$46.65 million	26.50
Charles River Associates Competitors	$2.97 billion	$272.15 million	23.38

Charles River Associates’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Charles River Associates. Charles River Associates is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Charles River Associates competitors beat Charles River Associates on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Charles River Associates

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.