FTI Consulting has spent the past 18 months quietly rebalancing its growth mix and aggressively returning capital. First-half 2026 revenue of $1,976.8M grew 7.3% year over year, with three of its five segments accelerating while Economic Consulting continued to compress, and management retired 3.4M shares for $517.7M against an authorization that was increased to $2.6B in June 2026. Operating earnings and headline EPS declined because the company simultaneously levered up the balance sheet (long-term debt rose to $1,019.3M from $365.0M at year-end 2025) to fund those buybacks, and because a $6.6M charge related to the FTI vs. Orszag litigation hit the corporate line. Adjusted EPS, which adds back the litigation expense, still rose to $2.16 from $2.13 in the second quarter, but headline EPS fell to $1.99 from $2.13 as the buyback funding cost and the litigation charge flowed through.
The bull case is that the buyback math is overwhelmingly attractive at a forward P/E of roughly 14x, a price-to-book of 3.1x, and a beta of essentially zero. The bear case is that the Corporate Finance cycle is showing signs of fatigue and Economic Consulting, historically the second-largest profit pool, has effectively flatlined. Valuation discipline is the differentiator, and FCN is leaning into it: the firm is repurchasing shares at a discount to where it has historically traded, the credit facility has been upsized to support the program, and the per-share earnings power is improving mechanically even as reported net income compresses.