Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Here's Why You Should Hold ICF International (ICFI) Stock Now

Read MoreHide Full Article

ICF International, Inc. (ICFI - Free Report) has an impressive Growth Score of B. This style score condenses all the essential metrics from a company’s financial statements to get a true sense of the quality and sustainability of its growth.

ICF’s 2022 and 2023 earnings are expected to improve by 18.3% and 5%, respectively, year over year. Revenues are anticipated to rise 14.2% and 11.4% in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Factors That Augur Well

Increased government focus on environmental initiatives, efficiency and mission performance management, transparency and accountability, and heightened demand for integrating domain knowledge of client missions and programs with innovative technology-enabled solutions is driving demand for ICF’s advisory services.

The company is seeing a significant increase in revenues from its high-growth markets, which include IT modernization/digital transformation, public health, disaster management, utility consulting, climate, environment and infrastructure services. A 1.31 trailing 12-month book-to-bill ratio and a $9 billion new business pipeline at the end of the second quarter of 2022 provide good revenue visibility for the near term.

Strategic acquisitions have helped to reduce the company’s dependency on government spending. In addition, the acquisitions have expanded its offerings and provided scale in certain geographies. Past and future acquisitions are also expected to contribute to the growth of ICF’s EBITDA and free cash flow.

Some Risks

ICF sees an escalation in costs as it is making significant investments in internal infrastructure and acquisitions. The company’s operating costs and expenses increased 3.9% in 2021. These expenses rose 5.1% year over year in 2020 and 9.2% in 2019.

ICF currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Stocks to Consider

Investors interested in the broader Zacks Business Services sector can consider stocks like Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH - Free Report) , Paychex (PAYX - Free Report) and Cross Country Healthcare (CCRN - Free Report) .

Booz Allen carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. BAH has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 7.5%.

Booz Allen delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 8.8% on average.

Paychex carries a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. PAYX has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 7.5%.

Paychex delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 8.6% on average.

Cross Country Healthcare carries a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. CCRN has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 6%.

CCRN delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.1% on average.

Published in