One-glance verdict
Within fair range
$139.04 our estimate vs market $158.57
Wall Street consensus: $174.50 (25.5% higher than our fair-value estimate)
14% above our estimate
Fundamentals snapshot
FTI Consulting, Inc.
FCN · NYQ · Industrials · Consulting Services
Current price
$158.57
52-week range
$140.84 - $189.30
Market cap
$4.78B
Balance sheet
Watch
19.37x Strong cushion
Net debt $808.71M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
3 Risks
3 rewards · 3 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 2.2% last year.
- Reward Returns 14.0% on equity, ahead of 16% of its peers.
- Risk Net debt grew 369.6% over 3 years.
- Risk Operating margin compressed from 10.3% to 8.5% over 3 years.
What this company does
FTI Consulting, Inc.
FTI Consulting is a company of experts that other businesses hire to solve their biggest problems, like going through a bankruptcy, facing a major lawsuit, or dealing with a public relations crisis. They make money by charging fees for this specialized advice, which companies often need regardless of how the overall economy is doing. This means their business can remain steady even when other industries face downturns.
How the company got here
FTI Consulting started in 1982 as Forensic Technologies International, a company founded by two engineers to help explain complex technical issues to juries in court cases. It became a public company in 1996 and changed its name to FTI Consulting in 1998, shifting its focus to helping troubled companies with their finances. A key turning point was the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which prevented accounting firms from also providing consulting services to their public clients, creating a major opportunity for FTI. Through a series of acquisitions, the company expanded its expertise into areas like bankruptcy and restructuring, economic consulting, and strategic communications, growing into a large global advisory firm.
What it actually does
Think of FTI Consulting as a team of experts that other companies, law firms, and even governments hire to solve very complex problems. These problems can be financial, legal, or related to a company's reputation. For example, they might help a company that's going through bankruptcy, investigate a potential fraud, provide expert analysis for a major lawsuit, or manage public perception during a crisis. They don't sell a physical product; instead, they sell specialized advice and hands-on support to help organizations manage change, reduce risk, and handle disputes.
Corporate Finance & Restructuring
This is the largest part of FTI's business, making up about 41% of its sales. This group helps companies that are in financial trouble, a process often called restructuring (reorganizing a company's operations and finances to avoid bankruptcy or emerge from it). They also provide advice on buying or selling other companies, known as transactions, and help healthy companies improve their performance. Their clients are typically companies, banks, and investors who need expert guidance on major financial decisions.
Forensic and Litigation Consulting
This segment acts like a detective agency for businesses and their lawyers, and it accounts for about a fifth of the company's revenue. When a company suspects fraud, needs to investigate a problem, or is involved in a major lawsuit, this team is called in. They provide services like finding and analyzing electronic data for legal cases (a process called e-discovery), investigating financial crimes, and providing expert testimony in court. Their clients are often law firms and corporate boards who need independent experts to figure out what happened in complex situations.
Economic Consulting
This division provides deep economic analysis for legal and regulatory challenges and represents just under 20% of FTI's business. Imagine two giant companies wanting to merge; this team would analyze whether the merger would be unfair to consumers, a concept known as antitrust. They also provide expert opinions on financial and economic issues in legal disputes and international disagreements. Law firms, corporations, and government bodies hire these experts to provide clear analysis on complicated economic questions.
Technology
This segment, which is about 10% of the company's revenue, helps clients manage and analyze large amounts of digital information, especially for legal and regulatory reasons. For example, they help companies search through millions of emails and documents to find evidence for a lawsuit (e-discovery) or ensure they are handling customer data properly to protect privacy. Their clients include law firms and corporations that need to navigate the risks and complexities of digital data.
Strategic Communications
This group, also making up about 10% of revenue, helps companies manage their reputation and communicate effectively during critical moments. This could involve announcing a major financial event, dealing with a crisis that gets public attention, or communicating with the government on policy issues. Essentially, they help companies tell their story to investors, employees, and the public in a way that protects their brand and business.
What management is betting on now
FTI Consulting is focused on growing by hiring and retaining top experts, as their business is built on the specialized knowledge of their people. They are also expanding in growing areas like healthcare consulting and helping companies navigate the increasing complexity of data privacy and cybersecurity regulations. The company is also investing in technology, such as artificial intelligence, to enhance its services and is actively buying back its own stock, which can signal management's confidence in the company's future.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Loading price history…
Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q2
$125.17M
FY2024 Q3
$212.34M
FY2024 Q4
$301.64M
FY2025 Q1
$-483.01M
FY2025 Q2
$38.27M
FY2025 Q3
$186.98M
FY2025 Q4
$351.37M
FY2026 Q1
$-320.64M
Revenue
$983.35M
Net income
$57.63M
Diluted EPS
1.90
Operating cash flow
$-310.02M
Free cash flow
$-320.64M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$990.75M
Net income
$54.53M
Diluted EPS
1.77
Operating cash flow
$359.76M
Free cash flow
$351.37M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$956.17M
Net income
$82.82M
Diluted EPS
2.60
Operating cash flow
$201.89M
Free cash flow
$186.98M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$943.66M
Net income
$71.70M
Diluted EPS
2.13
Operating cash flow
$55.69M
Free cash flow
$38.27M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$898.28M
Net income
$61.82M
Diluted EPS
1.74
Operating cash flow
$-465.21M
Free cash flow
$-483.01M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$894.92M
Net income
$49.71M
Diluted EPS
1.39
Operating cash flow
$315.31M
Free cash flow
$301.64M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$926.02M
Net income
$66.47M
Diluted EPS
1.85
Operating cash flow
$219.37M
Free cash flow
$212.34M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$949.16M
Net income
$83.95M
Diluted EPS
2.34
Operating cash flow
$135.23M
Free cash flow
$125.17M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $139.04 vs current price $158.57
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $174.50 (25.5% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $139.04 a share — about 12.3% away from today's price of $158.57, so the stock currently looks fairly priced.
Is it drowning in debt?
Watch
Net debt $808.7M. Interest coverage 19.4x.
Net debt
$808.71M
Interest coverage
19.37x
FTI Consulting, Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 19.4 times over. which is stronger than every peer shown here.
Watch
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
FCN
BASELINE
FTI Consulting, Inc.
Total debt $1.01B Interest coverage 19.37x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $889.76M Interest coverage 5.49x -72% vs FCN Carries about 3.5x less debt cushion than FCN.
Total debt $280.13M Interest coverage 15.51x -20% vs FCN Carries about 1.2x less debt cushion than FCN.
Total debt $1.76B Interest coverage 10.34x -47% vs FCN Carries about 1.9x less debt cushion than FCN.
Total debt $520.69M Interest coverage 17.82x -8% vs FCN Has roughly the same debt cushion as FCN.
Total debt $603.72M Interest coverage 4.72x -76% vs FCN Carries about 4.1x less debt cushion than FCN.
What you should know
The case for and against FCN
3 Rewards
3 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 2.2% last year.
-
Returns 14.0% on equity, ahead of 16% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 369.6% over 3 years.
-
Operating margin compressed from 10.3% to 8.5% over 3 years.
-
Insider ownership is only 1.9% (peer median: 2.8%).
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
18.88x
Forward P/E
14.23x
P/B
2.82x
P/S
1.23x
EV/EBITDA
12.35x
PEG ratio
0.96x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
31.9%
Operating margin
8.5%
Net margin
6.9%
ROE
14.0%
ROA
7.2%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.61x
Current ratio
2.30x
Quick ratio
1.99x
Total debt
$1.01B
Total cash
$198.28M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$3.87B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
8.1%
EPS TTM
8.40
EPS 5Y CAGR
7.8%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$307.32M
Free CF TTM
$93.60M
FCF margin
2.4%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
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Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
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