Business advisory firm FTI Consulting (NYSE: FCN) met Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q2 CY2026, with sales up 5.3% year on year to $993.5 million. The company’s outlook for the full year was close to analysts’ estimates with revenue guided to $4.02 billion at the midpoint. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.16 per share was 4.4% below analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy FTI Consulting? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.

Company Overview

With a team of experts deployed across 30+ countries to tackle complex business challenges, FTI Consulting (NYSE: FCN) is a global business advisory firm that helps organizations manage change, mitigate risk, and resolve disputes across financial, legal, operational, and regulatory matters.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years.

With $3.92 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, FTI Consulting is one of the larger companies in the business services industry and benefits from a well-known brand that influences purchasing decisions.

As you can see below, FTI Consulting grew its sales at a solid 8.2% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This shows it had high demand, a useful starting point for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. FTI Consulting’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 3% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We’re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs.

This quarter, FTI Consulting grew its revenue by 5.3% year on year, and its $993.5 million of revenue was in line with Wall Street’s estimates.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 6.2% over the next 12 months, an improvement versus the last two years. This projection is above average for the sector and indicates its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance.

ALSO WORTH WATCHING: Nvidia’s Quiet Partner. Nvidia’s chips cost a hundred grand. The connectors that make them work cost even more. One company makes them all.

Every AI server needs specialized infrastructure the chip companies don’t make. High-speed cables. Power connectors. Thermal sensors. This 90-year-old company built a monopoly on it. The AI boom just started. This stock is still flying under the radar. Claim The Stock Ticker Here for FREE.

Adjusted Operating Margin

Adjusted operating margin is a key measure of profitability. Think of it as net income (the bottom line) excluding the impact of non-recurring expenses, taxes, and interest on debt - metrics less connected to business fundamentals.

FTI Consulting’s adjusted operating margin has been trending up over the last 12 months and averaged 10% over the last five years. Its profitability was higher than the broader business services sector, showing it did a decent job managing its expenses.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, FTI Consulting’s adjusted operating margin might have fluctuated slightly but has generally stayed the same over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability.

This quarter, FTI Consulting generated an adjusted operating margin profit margin of 9.6%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.

Earnings Per Share

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth — for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

FTI Consulting’s EPS grew at an unimpressive 4.5% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, lower than its 8.2% annualized revenue growth. However, its adjusted operating margin didn’t change during this time, telling us that non-fundamental factors such as interest and taxes affected its ultimate earnings.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

For FTI Consulting, its two-year annual EPS declines of 4.2% show it’s continued to underperform. These results were bad no matter how you slice the data.

In Q2, FTI Consulting reported adjusted EPS of $2.16, up from $2.13 in the same quarter last year. Despite growing year on year, this print missed analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects FTI Consulting’s full-year EPS to grow 24.7% from $8.44 to $10.52.

Key Takeaways from FTI Consulting’s Q2 Results

It was good to see FTI Consulting narrowly top analysts’ full-year EPS guidance expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its EPS missed and its revenue was in line with Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this quarter could have been better. The stock traded down 2% to $167.12 immediately after reporting.

FTI Consulting’s earnings report left more to be desired. Let’s look forward to see if this quarter has created an opportunity to buy the stock. The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).