CRA International,Inc.

Good day everyone and welcome to Charles River Associates' second quarter 2025 conference call. Please note that today's call is being recorded. The company's earnings release and prepared CFO remarks are posted on the investor relations section of CRA's website at CRAI.com. With us today are CRA's President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Malley and Chief Corporate Development Officer and Interim Chief Financial Officer Chad Holmes. At this time I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Holmes for opening remarks. Chad, please go ahead.

Thank you, Rob, and good morning to everyone. Please note that the statements made during this conference call, including guidance on future revenue and non-GAAP EBITDA margin and any other statements concerning the future business, operating results, or financial condition of CRA, including those statements using the terms expect, outlook, or similar terms, are forward-looking statements as defined in Section 21 of the Exchange Act. Information contained in these forward-looking statements is based on management's current expectations and is inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements due to many important factors, including the level of demand for our services as a result of changes in general and industry-specific economic conditions. Additional information regarding these factors is included in today's release and in CRA's periodic reports, including our most recently filed annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC. CRA undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date of this call. Additionally, we will refer to some non-GAAP financial measures and certain measures presented on a constant currency basis on this call. Everyone is encouraged to refer to today's release and related CFO remarks for reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their GAAP comparable measures and descriptions of the calculation of EBITDA and measures presented on a constant currency basis. I will now turn it over to Paul for his report. Paul?

Thanks, Chad, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. CRA's long-term performance is indicative of the company's overall quality and demonstrates its ability to capitalize on growth opportunities in the market. We extended our run of strong performance into the second quarter of fiscal 2025. Building on seven consecutive years of record annual revenue and a best-ever first quarter start to fiscal 2025, revenue in the second quarter increased by 9% -over-year to $186.9 million. Our performance was broad-based, with seven of 11 practices growing -over-year. Our antitrust and competition economics, energy, intellectual property, and labor and employment practices each posted double-digit revenue growth. Additionally, our North American and international operations contributed to the quarter's revenue Increasing .4% and 7.0%, respectively. CRA continues to grow revenue and grow it profitably, improving profit margins and profit dollars over the past five years. The first half of fiscal 2025 builds on this trend, surpassing the record-setting first half of fiscal 2024 for non-GAAP net income, EPS, and EBITDA by 6%, 8%, and 8%, respectively. During the second quarter, we welcomed more than 15 new consultants, while improving consultant utilization on a -over-year basis to 76%. We are especially pleased with the level of consultant productivity, as the second and third quarters are typically periods of meaningful seasonal transitions, highlighted by inflows and outflows within our junior consultant ranks. The increase in utilization was supported by the continued replenishing of our sales pipeline. In the first six months of 2025, project lead flow increased by 2% -over-year, adjusting for the transition projects relating to the IP team that joined CRA in the second quarter of 2024, project lead flow through the first half of 2025 increased by 5% -over-year. Revenue in the second quarter from CRA's legal and regulatory services increased by nearly 11%. This growth was supported by activity in the broader legal market, as total case filings and total court judgments increased 17% and 6%, respectively, compared to the second quarter of 2024. Capitalizing on ongoing merger-related activity and continued demand for antitrust services, our antitrust and competition economics practice established a new high for quarterly revenue. The practice continues to support clients on high-profile mergers, as worldwide M&A activity reached nearly $2 trillion during the first half of 2025, an increase of 33% compared to year-ago levels and the strongest opening period for dealmaking since 2022. During the second quarter, for example, CRA's competition practice provided critical economic analysis and expert testimony across multiple antitrust jurisdictions to support Hewlett-Packard Enterprises and Juniper Networks in securing regulatory approval for their $14 billion merger, including clearing U.S. federal and global antitrust hurdles. Members of our competition practice also provided economic analysis and testimony in a Delaware court that supported a successful $406 million jury verdict for a major pharmaceutical client. Relying in part on the CRA analysis, the court found that the defendant's bundling of drugs had unlawfully foreclosed competition, resulting in punitive damages. In Q2, CRA's intellectual property practice advised on multiple high-stakes litigation and valuation matters, covering a broad range of industries and legal forms. For example, CRA's intellectual property and life sciences teams collaborated on a patent infringement case involving a new lifesaving transcatheter aortic valve technology where hundreds of millions in damages are at stake. In Q3, CRA's IP expert quantified the patient life years saved due to this innovation and then valued these saved life years to determine a range of reasonable royalty rates. Concurrently, CRA's life sciences team provided support by interpreting medical studies related to the patented technology's benefit. In another IP matter, a CRA expert provided testimony regarding investments in a U.S. domestic industry and public interest in an international trade investigation involving the manufacture of cochlear implants. The case resolved favorably for CRA's clients immediately prior to trial. CRA's labor and employment practice continues to be valued partner for clients in early stage assessments and mediation assistance in both discrimination and wage and hour litigation matters. For example, during the second quarter, a CRA expert opined in a class action lawsuit against a customer service support software company alleging underpayment of female employees in violation of the California Equal Pay Act. The CRA project team analyzed human resources and payroll data and submitted a rebuttal report demonstrating the flaws in the opposing expert's work. Within our management consulting services, revenue increased roughly 5% year over year led by the continued strong performance of our energy practice. During the quarter, CRA's energy practice continued to experience strong demand across a wide range of service areas. The team is actively supporting utilities, developers, and investors as they navigate a rapidly evolving energy landscape shaped by policy shifts and accelerating load growth. Approximately half of the practice's work remains focused on utilities where we are helping clients reassess strategy and capital investment plans. Much of this activity is being driven by changes in federal renewable incentives and a surge in data center related electricity demand, both of which are prompting utilities to pivot and pursue new regulatory filings to realign their long term plans. As power availability becomes a gaining factor for data center development in key markets, the team is increasingly helping clients shape integrated approaches to infrastructure planning, contracting, and energy sourcing. During the second quarter, the energy practice advised an electric utility on how to structure its response to anticipated large load requests. It also led a buy side due diligence for a client evaluating the acquisition of a data center asset and supported multiple developers on siting strategy and utility engagement. Our life sciences practice continued to adeptly navigate challenging industry dynamics, posting a slight decline in the second quarter but expanding year over year for the first half of fiscal 2025. In the second quarter, the practice continued to support clients' strategic initiatives across a range of strategy, policy, and expert witness projects. For example, the practice continues to work in the immune oncology space, helping clients to assess opportunities and develop launch strategies for new products and combination therapies. Overall, I'm grateful to all of my colleagues for their hard work during the second quarter as we helped our clients address their most important challenges. Combined with the first quarter, the start of fiscal 2025 represents the best first half of revenue in the company's history. Year to date, on a constant currency basis relative to fiscal 2024, CRA generated total revenue of $367.6 million and non-GAAP EBITDA of $47.7 million resulting in a margin of 13%. Given our strong first half results and a healthy pipeline, we are increasing our revenue guidance and raising the lower end of our profit guidance. For full year of fiscal 2025, on a constant currency basis relative to fiscal 2024, we expect revenue in the range of $730 million to $745 million and non-GAAP EBITDA margin in the range of 12.3 to 13.0%. This new guidance compares with prior revenue range of $715 million to $735 million and non-GAAP EBITDA margin in the range of 12.0 to 13.0%. As the remainder of fiscal year, as the remainder of our fiscal year ends on January 3rd, 2026, resulting in a 14th week in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. While we are pleased with CRA's strong start to fiscal 2025, we remain mindful that uncertain global macroeconomic, business, and political conditions can affect our business and our client needs. With that, I'll turn the call over to Chad for a few additional comments. Chad?