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Is Charles River Associates (CRAI) Outperforming Other Business Services Stocks This Year?

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The Business Services group has plenty of great stocks, but investors should always be looking for companies that are outperforming their peers. Is CRA International (CRAI - Free Report) one of those stocks right now? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Business Services sector should help us answer this question.

CRA International is a member of the Business Services sector. This group includes 315 individual stocks and currently holds a Zacks Sector Rank of #7. The Zacks Sector Rank gauges the strength of our 16 individual sector groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups.

The Zacks Rank is a proven system that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions, highlighting a variety of stocks that are displaying the right characteristics to beat the market over the next one to three months. CRA International is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for CRAI's full-year earnings has moved 5.2% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.

Based on the latest available data, CRAI has gained about 71.2% so far this year. At the same time, Business Services stocks have gained an average of 6.5%. This means that CRA International is outperforming the sector as a whole this year.

SPX Technologies (SPXC - Free Report) is another Business Services stock that has outperformed the sector so far this year. Since the beginning of the year, the stock has returned 39.1%.

In SPX Technologies' case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 6.5% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Looking more specifically, CRA International belongs to the Consulting Services industry, a group that includes 14 individual stocks and currently sits at #194 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have lost 11.1% this year, meaning that CRAI is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

On the other hand, SPX Technologies belongs to the Technology Services industry. This 170-stock industry is currently ranked #96. The industry has moved +22.6% year to date.

CRA International and SPX Technologies could continue their solid performance, so investors interested in Business Services stocks should continue to pay close attention to these stocks.


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