CRA International,Inc.

Good day, everyone, and welcome to Charles River Associates' second quarter 2026 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 Maleh, Chief Financial Officer, Eric Nierenberg, and Chief Corporate Development Officer, Chad Holmes. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Dr. Nierenberg for opening remarks. Eric, please go ahead.

Thank you, Rob, and good morning, 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. C.R.A. undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements after the date of this call to reflect new information or developments. 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, Eric, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Building on eight consecutive years of record annual revenue and a best-ever first quarter to start fiscal 2026, We delivered revenue of $210.8 million in the second quarter. This represents year-over-year growth of 12.8% and the highest quarterly revenue in CRA's history. Broad-based contributions once again characterize CRA's financial performance, reflecting both the quality and the depth of the portfolio. Eight practices grew year-over-year, representing 95% of the company's total revenue for the second quarter. Six practices, energy, finance, forensic services, intellectual property, life sciences, and risk investigations and analytics posted double-digit revenue growth, while the antitrust and competition economics practice established a new high for quarterly revenue. Additionally, our North American and international operations contributed to the quarter's revenue growth. Increasing 8.7% and 32.9% respectively. This top line performance translated into the highest second quarter profits in the company's history as non-GAAP net income, earnings per diluted share, and EBITDA grew by 9%, 14.9%, and 15.3% respectively. During the second quarter, we welcomed more than 60 new consultants, as headcount increased 3.3% compared to the second quarter of 2025, while consultant utilization ticked up to 77% versus 76% in the second quarter of 2025. The increases in overall consultant headcount and utilization were supported by the continued replenishing of our sales pipeline. Average weekly project lead flow and new project originations remain strong, with each metric showing double-digit growth relative to the second quarter of 2025. Revenue in the second quarter from CRA's legal and regulatory services increased by 10.1%. This growth was supported in trends in the broader legal market, as total case filings and total court judgments increased 11% and 5%, respectively, compared to the second quarter of 2025. Turning to the M&A market, worldwide M&A activity totaled $2.85 trillion during the first half of 2026, an increase of 50% compared to the year-ago levels and making it the strongest opening period for dealmaking since such records began in 1980. The second quarter of 2026 totaled $1.6 trillion, an increase of 31% compared to the first quarter of this year. surpassing $1 trillion for the fourth consecutive quarter and making the largest quarter of worldwide M&A activity on record. Against this backdrop, CRA's antitrust and competition economics practice posted its sixth straight record quarter, capitalizing on ongoing merger-related activity and continued demand for antitrust services. During the quarter, During the quarter, CRA was retained by Fivetran, the data foundation for AI to advise on its merger with DBT Labs, the creator of DBT, or Data Build Tool, and the leader in standards for AI-ready structured data. The CRA team provided economic assistance to Fivetran on the competition and regulatory compliance aspects of the transaction in the United States. The parties announced the completion of their merger on June 1, 2026, which brings together two category-defining platforms to advance a new error of trusted open data infrastructure for AI at scale. Our finance practice continued to be active in complex commercial disputes and investigations during the quarter. In bankruptcy matters, We were active in disputes involving liability management transactions. In one such matter, the Sutter-Simmons betting litigation had a court ruling on July 7th awarding more than $400 million in damages and prejudgment interest to CRA's clients. In its ruling, the court specifically relied on the testimony of CRA senior consultant, Marty Murray, calling her analysis more persuasive The implications of the SIRTA ruling have been discussed widely in the press, including multiple articles in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Law, Law 360, and elsewhere. In Q2, CRA's forensic services practice grew over 20% year over year and established a new high for quarterly revenue while responding to numerous types of crisis management events experienced by our clients. For example, when over 8,000 universities experienced an outage with Canvas software during a critical week of exams, our team was rapidly deployed to respond and review the information at risk to assist with getting the software back online. Elsewhere, CRA's intellectual property practice advised on multiple high-stakes litigation and valuation matters, covering a broad range of industry and legal forms. For example, CRA was engaged by a global smartphone manufacturer facing patent infringement claims in the Eastern District of Texas. The matter involved Wi-Fi and cellular handoff features on the smartphone and questions. CRA's engagement team performed multiple analysis to rebut the plaintiff's damages claim at trial. Damages claim. At trial, the jury rejected the plaintiff's claim of more than $100 million and awarded just $3 million, consistent with CRA's expert opinion at trial. In another matter, a CRA expert testified in high-stakes international arbitration involving a patent dispute between two leading telecommunication firms. The arbitration panel awarded the royalty rate that CRA's expert opined to, saving the client millions of dollars. During the second quarter, the risk investigations and analytics practice worked on a number of large investigative, advisory, and damage-related expert assignments as revenue grew more than 20% year over year. For example, a CRA team investigated and will serve as forensic accounting experts in a civil litigation regarding a fraudulent misrepresentation claim in the private aviation sector. As part of the assignment, the team performed document review, investigative research, and analyzed bank account records and financial documentation to trace the flow of funds and substantiate the existence of alleged payments and liabilities owed. The team also investigated the defendant's representation, related to assets sold to plaintiffs. Turning to our management consulting services, both the energy and life sciences practice delivered revenue growth in excess of 20% year over year. CRA's energy practice continued to achieve strong results across a diverse range of clients, including utilities, private equity investors, electric system operators, and large energy consumers. During the second quarter, the practice advised the executive leadership team of one of the nation's largest utilities on the development of its utility of the future strategy, addressing the growth of distributed energy resources, rapidly increasing demand from data centers, and opportunities for new utility products and services. The practice was also selected by PJM, the Electric System Operating Operators serving the Mid-Atlantic and portions of the Midwest for a multi-year engagement to develop enhanced data-centered load forecasts as unprecedented demand growth creates new challenges for system planning and investment. In parallel, CRA's energy practice continued to advise data-centered developers and operators on siting, power procurement, and the development strategies across the United States. while helping other large energy consumers navigate increasingly complex and rapidly evolving energy markets. In our life sciences practice, we continued to help our clients build their strategies across the lifecycle at both the franchise and product level. For one large pharmaceutical multinational, we have been working with their R&D team to help find new opportunities In a broad disease category, CRA's efforts leverage industry-specific AI tools to analyze markets and innovation dynamics, portfolio positions, and recent licensing and acquisition activity to identify potential areas of focus. For another large pharmaceutical multinational, we are continuing to support their global launch strategy for potential blockbuster oncology products. C.R.A.' 's work focused on branded value propositions and message testing for healthcare professionals and patients. Overall, I'm grateful to all of my colleagues for the hard work during the second quarter in helping our clients address their most important challenges. To start fiscal 2026, the start of fiscal 2026 represents the best first half of revenue and non-GAAP EBITDA in C.R.A.' 's history. In the first half of the year, on a constant currency basis relative to fiscal 2025, CRA generated total revenue of $408.8 million and non-GAAP EBITDA of $49.7 million, resulting in a margin of 12.2%. Given our strong first half results and healthy pipeline, we are increasing our annual revenue guidance Thank you all for joining us today. guidance compares with the prior range of $785 million to $805 million. We expect that the constant currency adjustment will decrease CRA's reported annual revenue by approximately $2.5 million and CRA's reported annual EBITDA by less than $250,000 in fiscal 2026. This implies that the constant currency adjustment for the second half of fiscal 2026 will increase reported revenue by approximately $500,000 and reported EBITDA by $100,000. As previously reported, non-cash forgivable loan amortization, which is reflected as an expense when presenting EBITDA metrics, is expected to increase in fiscal 2026 by approximately $15 million. reflecting investments and talent to drive profitable growth. Non-cash forgivable loan amortization increased by more than $9 million in the first half of this year relative to the first half of fiscal 2025, implying an increase of slightly more than $5 million is expected during the second half of fiscal 2026 relative to the second half of fiscal 2025. Finally, as a reminder, fiscal 2026 returns to CRA's typical 52-week year, whereas fiscal 2025 contained an extra week in the fourth quarter and resulted in a 53-week year. We continue to be encouraged by the strong start to the year, supportive market trends, and continued replenishing of our sales pipeline. However, we remain mindful Thanks, Paul. Hello, everyone. I want to update you on our capital and capital deployment during the quarter. We concluded the quarter with $21.4 million of cash and $219 million of borrowings

under our revolving credit facility, resulting in net debt of $197.6 million. The borrowings were used to manage working capital needs during the first two quarters, including the funding of annual bonus payments as we have done in prior years. In addition to the normal bonus cycle, the second quarter of 2026 saw net cash outlays of $18.2 million for talent investments and $1.6 million for traditional capital expenditures. During the second quarter, we returned $31.4 million of capital to our shareholders consisting of $3.6 million of dividend payments and $27.8 million for repurchases of approximately 193,000 shares at an average price of $144 per share. Year to date, we have spent $49.3 million repurchasing a total of 309,000 shares at an average price of $160 per share. This reflects the longstanding confidence of the board and the management team in the cash generating ability of the business and their belief that the company's fundamental value exceeds the prevailing stock price.

We currently have $16.6 million available under our share repurchase program.

We concluded the second quarter of fiscal 2026 with total liquidity of $98.7 million, consisting of $21 million of cash and cash equivalents and a further $77.3 million of available capacity on our line of credit in place at quarter's end. Earlier today, We announced an increase and extension to CRA's existing CRISP credit facility as it approached the final year before maturity. The expanded facility will run for five years with an aggregate principal amount of up to $400 million, consisting of a $75 million term loan and a $325 million revolving credit facility, which includes a seasonal flex that provides CRA with the option to reduce the facility Thank you. Thank you. With that, I'll turn the call over to Eric for a few final comments.

Eric. Thanks, Chad. As a reminder, more expansive commentary on our financial results is available on the investor relations section of our website under prepared CFO remarks. Before we get to questions, let me provide a few additional metrics related to our performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2026. In terms of consultant headcount, we ended the quarter at 968. consisting of 161 officers, 581 other senior staff, and 226 junior staff. This represents a 3.3% year-over-year increase from the 937 consultant headcount reported at the end of Q2 fiscal 2025. Non-GAAP selling general and administrative expenses excluding the 1.3% attributable to commissions to non-employee experts was 15.5% of revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 compared with 16.3% a year ago. The effective tax rate for the second quarter of fiscal 2026 on a non-GAAP basis was 32.6% compared with 29.0% on a non-GAAP basis for the second quarter of fiscal 2025. The increase is primarily due to an increase in non-deductible executive compensation partially offset by a re-measurement of deferred tax assets related to changes in current year state apportionment. For the remainder of the year, we expect the effective tax rate to be at the range of 33 to 34 percent, resulting in a full year tax rate range of 32 to 33 percent. Turning to the balance sheet, DSOs start at 113 days at the end of the second quarter, Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad.

A confirmation to home indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. One moment please while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from Andrew Nicholas with William Blair. Your line is now live.

Thank you and good morning. First question was just on the Thanks, Paul. Good morning. The management consulting strength in the quarter was really impressive. I think it was 25%, 26% growth. Can you unpack that a little bit more? What are the areas of that business that are presumably growing at really, really high rates? And maybe you can speak to the sustainability, maybe not of that growth, but just of persistent demand into that business line in particular.

Sure. So life sciences and the energy practice both grew in excess of 20% year-over-year. I think they delivered similar type of year-over-year growth in Q1. So it has been persistent now for the last, let's say, two or three quarters for both. The other thing I could add in terms of expected persistence is that they're both enjoying nice inbound of new opportunities and converting those new opportunities at historically high conversion rates there. So the near to medium term looks quite positive for both of those practices. Within life sciences, they're enjoying both pricing and market access work and also work on their litigation-related matters. So really nice distribution even across that practice. And in the energy practice, the utility industry right now in the United States is experiencing change like it has never seen before. So we're getting a large degree of inbounds, as I mentioned, from utilities, from private investors, from tech companies. on that, and that doesn't seem to be dissipating or declining by any means for it. So quite happy with what we put in the bank for the first half, and we remain bullish in the second half for those two practices.

Perfect.

That's helpful. And then on the antitrust business, I think the DOJ recently announced some changes with the goal of, I think, accelerating some of the merger reviews, reduce some information requests. Just wondering how you're thinking about those changes and the potential impact on your business and whether or not you've seen any impact to date from those changes.

So I will start with the last question. To date, we haven't seen any kind of impact, either positive or negative, I would say, at this stage. My understanding is that the change is intended to make merger reviews more targeted and less burdensome on it. It's not to eliminate antitrust scrutiny. So with that said, if the reviews become more focused, it could actually increase the value of getting the economics right early on in the proceedings.

And then if I could just kind of squeeze in a couple modeling items, I guess two part or one on the extra week. How should we think about the potential headwind there? I know it's obviously at the end of the year, so I'm not sure whether or not to assume normal utilization there or or if it's a little bit of a lighter week that got added last quarter. And then on the increased revolver, if you could just kind of speak to interest expense and your broader plans for leveraging that revolver through year end. Thank you.

Sure. So the updated revenue guidance, if you look at the midpoint of the range, really implies a pretty consistent quarterly revenue for CRA through 2026. I raise the extra week in Q4 of 2025 just in case people want to do their modeling in terms of year-over-year growth rates. The extra week in 2025 was unusually heavy for holiday time. So I would say on a growth rate basis, it probably had about 100 to 150 basis point impact. and not just the straight annual value, average annual value of an extra week on that. And then I think you were asking me about the new credit facility.

Interest expense, yes, yes.

Sure. We're really excited to get this done, right? It's been four years. We're entering into the fifth year. of the term that we signed back in 2022. We are more than 40% larger as an enterprise during that time. And if I do say so, we are experiencing a period of accelerated growth. So the board management, we wanted to make sure to maintain maximum flexibility to help us fund the, you know, entry year operations of the firm. And the term component of that was just really one that assisted us and our banking partners in providing that maximum flexibility. But the $75 million is pretty minimal in the grand scheme of our working capital needs. Thanks, Paul. Thank you, Andrew.

Our next question comes from Mark Riddick with Sidoti and Company. Your line is now live. Hey, good morning.

Hey, Mark.

So I wanted to start with the, you know, certainly broad-based strength that you're seeing in a lot of areas. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about how you're viewing the visibility. Certainly there's, you know, comfort level as far as in raising the guide. I guess maybe relative to what you've seen historically, Paul, can you talk a little bit about the level of capability that you have currently and comfort levels of some of those catalysts and drivers?

So I'm pretty bullish with respect to CRA and with respect to where the portfolio sits and what they've been delivering on that. If I were to say What is giving me any pause is that every quarter I am trying to forecast off of a level that we've never achieved before. Never achieved on the financial results that we're reporting, right? Eight consecutive years, you know, continue to have this quarter's a record, that quarter's a record. So we are forecasting off peaks. Now, the good news is I'm also experiencing peak levels of new project opportunities and new high levels of new projects being converted to revenue-generating assignments there. So I feel good as to where things are stacking up, but I can't say we have had experience at these levels. Thus is the cost of being successful, I guess.

And that actually kind of leads me to sort of the next part of this, I guess, is we're seeing the strength of utilization of 77%. And I know normally, historically, I know you've had some commentaries as if you are approaching 80% or so. So I was maybe wondering if you could spend some time sort of discussing that and comfort levels as to utilization levels and ranges that you would be comfortable with and maybe sort of how that might play into hiring trends, whether that's on a senior level or accelerating college students or the like.

Sure, a lot there. Let me try to see if I could address it. Sorry, I kept going there for a bit. No worries. In 2024 and 2025, We did not see any net expansion, really, of our headcount. What we were doing during those years is moving capacity from one part of the organization that maybe wasn't delivering at revenue levels that we would have expected to areas that are growing and in need of more resources. So the revenue-generating capacity the firm increased but not necessarily the head count. We made a lot of progress in that portfolio optimization where to the point in 2026, we're back to adding net heads to the portfolio. We're up 3.3% in Q2 and if attrition stays consistent with what we've been observing, I think we'll be in that mid single digit expansion of heads by year end, but more to come on that front. With respect to going forward medium term, I've always said that headcount has to move or revenue moves consistently with headcount expansion. I think CRA in the medium term wants to be growing heads, mid-single digits on it. With respect to the utilization, I believe that even at headcount growth in the mid single digits, we should be in the mid to upper 70s on the utilization front. You're going to always get some variability on the utilization front, particularly say during quarters two, quarters three. Why is that? Because we are having both some of our junior resources heading back to school, and also welcoming a lot of new university hires so that transitional friction sometimes puts downward pressure on the utilization in those particular quarters. But on average for the year, our feeling of mid to upper 70s utilization holds true.

Great. And then I guess maybe the last one for me is, why don't you talk a little bit about strength internationally and some of the drivers there and, you know, if there are some things under the hood that maybe we don't get to discuss as much about, but that international has been pretty good for a bit now. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about that strength there.

Sure. It's been more than pretty good. It's been, you know, pretty amazing, quite frankly. When I see the numbers, I turn to my colleagues and I say, is this right? Because a couple of things to talk about the strength. One, it's life sciences and it's our antitrust and competition economics practice, both killing it in our international operations. The second thing I want to highlight is it's all organic. There's been no group hires. There's been no acquisitions. This is my colleagues doing a phenomenal job to develop the people internal in their pyramid, to raise them to revenue-generating levels, and expanding their market share. I can't tell you at what level, but I'm pretty sure European consulting operations aren't growing in the 30% to 40% range. So we're pretty pleased. and all the credit goes to my colleagues both in the life sciences and the competition practice in Europe.

Excellent. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mark.

Our next question comes from Kevin Stank with Barrington Research. Your line is now live.

Hey, great. Thanks. Good morning, everyone.

Good morning, Kevin.

I wanted to start off by asking about some of your other practices that maybe we haven't touched on as much today. But besides the antitrust and competition economics and life sciences, which are two of your largest practices, you also noted double-digit growth in forensic services, which is among your top three largest practices. I think that continues to trend. You also experienced in the first quarter, so maybe can you touch on the drivers of growth there?

Sure. A couple of quarters ago, we talked about the impact of AI, and I'm regularly asked about how AI is affecting our business, and we used a few words that I think best captures what's going on at CRA, and that AI is a productivity enhancer, and a demand amplifier. Being a demand amplifier doesn't mean that this is all revenue that we have created because we use AI tools. Sometimes it's the complexity that AI is introducing into our markets. For example, in forensics, AI makes CRA more efficient, makes corporate America more efficient. It also makes the hackers A lot better at causing havoc at companies across the globe. So it's hard to say that AI hasn't had this perverse impact on demand in the cyber incident response work for the forensic practice. So they're seeing a surge there. They're seeing many of these hackers quite sophisticated in their use of these tools. and it does not seem to be waning right now.

Right. You also mentioned intellectual property and finances is growing double digit in the quarter. I mean, I guess any drivers you might highlight in terms of the demand picture there right now in those practices.

I can't really highlight, you know, we have talked about in the intellectual property space the whole concept of property rights and protection of those rights. That's going to continue to be a high priority item for businesses around the globe. And we're seeing just that happen. I can't point to any particular micro driver there or finance. They're just doing a good job getting in the marketplace and getting their share or better of the cases out there. I think this is finance's second quarter in a row of posting double digit revenue growth. So the consistency and the persistence that my colleagues are demonstrating really should be commended.

Okay, great. In terms of Adding senior talent, just if you could provide an update on maybe what your success has been on that front thus far this year in terms of bringing on senior talent with existing books of business and how that might be contributing to your outlook for this year and then just what the pipeline looks like as well.

Yeah, when talking about new senior talent, I have to start with the nearly 30 new vice presidents that we welcomed into CRA during 2025. We're thrilled with our new colleagues and we're pretty excited that today through two quarters of 2026, they're ahead of expectations with respect to their ramp and revenue contribution. So we're really happy with that. and there's no reason that that ramp should not continue in the quarters ahead. So we're thrilled with that contribution. We were able to add some senior level resources during Q1 and Q2 with respect to the guidance. Usually in-year hires are expected to contribute minimally to that current year. because we know it takes a little time for the ramp of those individuals and to enjoy their full contributions. So I don't build in contributions from inorganic additions typically when I'm in that year.

Right. That makes sense. Okay. Maybe as you've You mentioned the 30 new vice presidents brought in in 2025. Assuming a fair number of those had existing books of business already, what's the outlook for them once they get onto the CRA platform in terms of, are they able to increase their revenue generation as part of your firm relative to what they were able to do before? It seems like in the past that's been kind of a key part of the organic growth story.

Absolutely has been a key part of the organic growth. When we talk about organic growth, it's not just the same-store sales expansion within the business. It's also making sure we provide a more fruitful platform for our new senior colleagues to integrate into CRA. And we're pretty proud of the track record that once these senior colleagues get inside the CRA platform, they generate at levels higher than they experienced in prior professional institutions. So that's the goal, right? You try to have a nice balanced contribution between the company and the individual. and I think my practice colleagues have done a really good job at that irrespective of whether it's in legal regulatory and management consulting. Typically the things that sometimes slow ramp is many of these senior colleagues have restricted covenants whether they are straight out non-competes or non-solicitation of clients so they have to burn through many of those covenants before They get to historical levels of RAMP. So it's not as much the integration at times, but more as to the restrictions that typically run about 12 months post-joining CRA.

All right. That makes sense. Well, thanks for taking the questions, and congratulations on the strong results.

Thank you, Kevin. Really appreciate it.

We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Paul Maleh for closing comments.

I would like to thank you for joining us today. We appreciate your interest in CRA and the support you have provided the company over the years. We will be participating in investor meetings and conferences over the coming months and look forward to updating you on our progress on our third quarter call. This concludes today's call. Thank you everyone.

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time and we thank you for your participation.