Professional services firm Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) reported Q1 CY2025 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations , with sales up 11.2% year on year to $404.1 million. The company expects the full year’s revenue to be around $1.62 billion, close to analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.68 per share was 45.3% above analysts’ consensus estimates.
“Driven by strong growth across all three operating segments, revenues before reimbursable expenses (RBR) grew 11% over the first quarter of 2024, while we continued to expand our margins,” said Mark Hussey, CEO and president of Huron.
Company Overview
Founded in 2002 during a time of significant regulatory change in corporate America, Huron Consulting Group (NASDAQ:HURN) is a professional services company that helps organizations develop growth strategies, optimize operations, and implement digital transformation solutions.
Sales Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but the best consistently grow over the long haul.
With $1.56 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Huron is a small player in the business services space, which sometimes brings disadvantages compared to larger competitors benefiting from economies of scale and numerous distribution channels. On the bright side, it can grow faster because it has more room to expand.
As you can see below, Huron grew its sales at an impressive 9.7% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This is an encouraging starting point for our analysis because it shows Huron’s demand was higher than many business services companies.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss new innovations or demand cycles. Huron’s annualized revenue growth of 13.1% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting its demand was strong and recently accelerated.
This quarter, Huron reported year-on-year revenue growth of 11.2%, and its $404.1 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 0.8%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 8.6% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last two years. Despite the slowdown, this projection is healthy and implies the market sees success for its products and services.
Huron was profitable over the last five years but held back by its large cost base. Its average operating margin of 8.2% was weak for a business services business.
On the plus side, Huron’s operating margin rose by 8.6 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it immense operating leverage.
This quarter, Huron generated an operating profit margin of 8.1%, up 2.6 percentage points year on year. This increase was a welcome development and shows it was more efficient.
Earnings Per Share
We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.
Huron’s EPS grew at an astounding 19.5% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 9.7% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.
Diving into Huron’s quality of earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Huron’s operating margin expanded by 8.6 percentage points over the last five years. On top of that, its share count shrank by 15.4%. These are positive signs for shareholders because improving profitability and share buybacks turbocharge EPS growth relative to revenue growth.
In Q1, Huron reported EPS at $1.68, up from $1.23 in the same quarter last year. This print easily cleared analysts’ estimates, and shareholders should be content with the results. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Huron’s full-year EPS of $6.94 to grow 6.1%.
Key Takeaways from Huron’s Q1 Results
We were impressed by how significantly Huron blew past analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also happy its revenue narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a decent quarter with some key metrics above expectations. The stock traded up 1.9% to $138.60 immediately after reporting.
Huron put up rock-solid earnings, but one quarter doesn’t necessarily make the stock a buy. Let’s see if this is a good investment. If you’re making that decision, you should consider the bigger picture of valuation, business qualities, as well as the latest earnings.
We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free
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