Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: The Corporate Executive Board, Navigant Consulting and CRA International

Chicago, IL – June 29, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today’s outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Sean P. Smith discusses the Business Consulting Services sector. Highlighted stocks include: The Corporate Executive Board (EXBD - Analyst Report), Navigant Consulting (NCI - Analyst Report), and CRA International (CRAI - Analyst Report).

In light of the macroeconomic challenges facing existing and potential customers, we expect the business consulting firms to face a difficult operating environment in the near term. Our Sell-Rated stocks in the industry include The Corporate Executive Board (EXBD - Analyst Report), Navigant Consulting (NCI - Analyst Report), and CRA International (CRAI - Analyst Report).

Each firm posted earnings results that fell short of Street expectations in 2008, and we anticipate further pressure on utilization rates in the case of NCI and CRAI, and on contract-value growth in the case of EXBD. As a result, we expect that margins will remain constrained in the current environment.

Indeed, CRAI recently reported that utilization rates fell again in the second quarter versus the year-ago period, despite headcount reductions and restructuring activities undertaken by the company. Likewise, EXBD reported that contract value and cross-sell ratio deteriorated further in the first quarter.

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