Huron Consulting Group, Inc.

Huron Consulting Group, Inc. (HURN - Snapshot Report) has held up well in the recent sell off, finding support from a long-term trend line and strong Q2 results that included a 53% earnings surprise. With estimates on the rise and a bullish growth projection, this Zacks #1 Rank stock still has momentum.

Company Description

Huron Consulting Group, Inc. provides operational and financial consulting services in the United States. The company was founded in 2002 and has a market cap of $650 million.

Huron has been a top performer in 2011, with shares recently jumping into a new multi-year high after reporting strong Q2 results that came in ahead of expectations.

Second-Quarter Results

Revenue for the period was up 17% from last year to $159 million. Earnings also looked good at 58 cents, 53% ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, where the company has an average earnings surprise of 40% over the last four quarters.

Although the company did see its number of full-time billable consultants increase by 125 to 1,171, its utilization rate fell to 71.9% from 73%. But with the average hourly bill rate increasing $26 to $269, it was enough to juice sales and drive the bottom line.

Estimates

We saw some solid movement in estimates off the good quarter, with the current year adding 11 cents to $1.67 while the next-year estimate jumped 17 cents to $2.33, a bullish 39% growth projection.

Valuation

But in spite of the gains, the valuation picture looks great, with a PEG ratio of .44 well below the benchmark for value of 1.

12-Month Chart

On the chart, shares hit a new multi-year high on the good quarter before pulling back a bit in the recent sell off. Take a look below.