ICF International (ICFI) Banks on Prudent Strategies as Costs Ail
ICF International, Inc. ICFI is currently focused on strengthening its commercial businesses and technology-based offerings.
The company recently reported first-quarter 2022 adjusted earnings of $2.47 per share that surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.7% and increased 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Revenues of $3.6 billion surpassed the consensus mark by 0.5% and increased 4.7% year over year.
ICFI’s shares have declined 7.1% year to date compared with 9.7% decline of the industry it belongs to.
ICF International, Inc. Price
ICF International, Inc. price | ICF International, Inc. Quote
How is ICFI Doing?
ICF advisory services remain in good shape, driven by trends such as increased government focus on environmental initiatives; emphasis on transparency and accountability; efficiency and mission performance management; generational changes; and increased demand for integrating domain knowledge of client missions and programs with innovative technology-enabled solutions. The company is also seeing growth opportunities for technology-based solutions like digital services and strategic communications across all the markets it serves.
ICF continues to focus on the expansion of its commercial businesses, strengthening its technology-based offerings, expanding its presence in U.S. federal, state and local government markets, pursuing large contract opportunities, and utilizing its business model across geographies. These initiatives come under its long-term strategy to increase revenues and shareholder value.
Acquisitions are an important element of ICF International’s growth strategy. The January 2022 buyout of Creative Systems and Consulting is expected to expand ICF International’s federal IT modernization/digital transformation capabilities with leading Salesforce and Microsoft implementation teams. The January 2020 acquisition of Incentive Technology Group has expanded the company’s IT-modernization services to better serve U.S. federal government clients, adding best-in-class IT platform expertise and partnerships.
ICF is seeing an escalation in costs as it makes significant investments in internal infrastructure and acquisitions. The company’s operating costs and expenses increased by 3.9% in 2021. These expenses rose 5.1% year over year in 2020 and 9.2% in 2019.
Zacks Rank and Other Stocks to Consider
ICF currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Some other stocks in the broader Zacks Business Services sector that investors can consider are Cross Country Healthcare CCRN and Clean Harbors CLH.
Cross Country Healthcare sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company has a long-term earnings growth of 6.9%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Cross Country Healthcare pulled off a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 29.2%, on average. CCRN’s shares have declined 15.9% year to date.
Clean Harbors carries a Zacks Rank #1. The company delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 35.8%, on average.
CLH’s shares have declined 11.5% year to date.
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