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TheStreet Wire

CRA International Inc. Stock Downgraded (CRAI)

By TheStreet Wire 05/09/12 - 05:00 AM EDT

Find out if (CRAI) is in Cramer's Portfolio.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- CRA International (Nasdaq:CRAI) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from buy to hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its reasonable valuation levels and notable return on equity. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including unimpressive growth in net income, poor profit margins and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

CRAI, with its decline in revenue, slightly underperformed the industry average of 10.6%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 12.1%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
The gross profit margin for CRA INTERNATIONAL INC is currently lower than what is desirable, coming in at 32.80%. It has decreased from the same quarter the previous year. Along with this, the net profit margin of 0.80% trails that of the industry average.
The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Professional Services industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 88.3% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $4.44 million to $0.52 million.

CRA International, Inc. provides litigation, regulatory, financial consulting, and management consulting services worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.2, below the average diversified services industry P/E ratio of 16.2 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. CRA International has a market cap of $204.7 million and is part of the services sector and diversified services industry. Shares are down 1% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

You can view the full CRA International Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.
-- Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff

For more information on CRA International Inc. click any of the following:

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