FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN): BCG Matrix [Dec-2025 Updated]

You need the straight facts on FTI Consulting, Inc.'s (FCN) current engine room as we hit late 2025, and the BCG Matrix lays it out starkly: while the powerhouse Corporate Finance & Restructuring segment keeps printing cash with a 21.5% margin, the high-growth Forensic unit is clearly the emerging Star, shooting up 15.4% in Q3. Still, you'll see where the pain is, with Economic Consulting revenue plunging 22.0%, forcing management to make some tough calls on where to pour investment next to turn those Question Marks into future winners. Dive in below to see exactly which units are driving the bus and which ones are slowing down.

Background of FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN)

FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) is a global advisory firm that helps clients navigate significant opportunities, challenges, and transitions. You're looking at a company that doesn't just offer advice; it steps in to solve complex, high-stakes problems across various industries.

The firm organizes its operations into several key business segments, which is important when we start mapping them on the matrix. As of the latest available full-year data, FTI Consulting generally reports revenue across segments like Corporate Finance & Restructuring, Economic Consulting, Forensic & Litigation Consulting, Strategic Communications, and Technology.

For instance, the Corporate Finance & Restructuring segment often deals with distressed situations, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory, and transaction services. The Economic Consulting practice provides expert testimony and economic analysis for litigation and regulatory matters, a defintely high-value area.

FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) has grown significantly over the years, often through strategic acquisitions that bolster its expertise in niche, high-demand areas. To give you a sense of scale, looking at the 2024 fiscal year results, the company reported total revenues approaching $3.2 billion, showing substantial scale in the advisory space.

The firm's client base is diverse, spanning corporations, governments, law firms, and financial institutions worldwide. Understanding this breadth is key because the growth rate of the market FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) serves-like digital forensics or regulatory compliance-will heavily influence where its segments land on the matrix.

When we look closer at 2024 revenue distribution, the Forensic & Litigation Consulting segment and the Corporate Finance & Restructuring segment often represent the largest portions of the top line, sometimes accounting for over 50% of the total revenue combined. This concentration tells us where the firm currently generates the most reliable cash flow.

The Technology segment, while perhaps smaller in absolute revenue terms compared to the giants, is critical because it often operates in high-growth areas like data privacy and cybersecurity consulting, which is where we might see future Stars or Question Marks emerge.

FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) - BCG Matrix: Stars

You're analyzing FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) and see the Forensic and Litigation Consulting (FLC) segment shining brightly as a Star in the portfolio. This segment is clearly operating in a high-growth area, demanding significant investment to maintain its leadership position.

The numbers from the third quarter of 2025 really tell the story of this segment's strength. Forensic and Litigation Consulting (FLC) segment revenue grew 15.4% in Q3 2025, hitting $194.7 million compared to $168.8 million in the prior year quarter. That kind of growth rate in a mature professional services environment signals a Star, especially when you look at the profitability it generated.

This performance is directly tied to high-growth demand for risk, investigations, and data & analytics services. It's not just top-line growth; the efficiency gains are notable, too. The segment posted a strong operating income of $40.5 million in Q3 2025, which is up significantly from $18.1 million in the third quarter of 2024. Honestly, that operating income jump is what separates a strong performer from a true market leader.

FLC represents a high-market-share leader in what is clearly a rapidly expanding global regulatory and disputes market. To keep this momentum, FTI Consulting, Inc. is investing in the capabilities that drive this success. Here are the key drivers behind that revenue surge:

• Higher realized bill rates for risk and investigations.
• Higher demand for risk and investigations services.
• Strong growth in data & analytics and construction solutions services.

Year-to-date through Q3 2025, the FLC segment's adjusted segment EBITDA is up more than 60%, confirming its status as a major cash generator that requires continued strategic support to fend off competitors. Here's a quick look at how FLC stacks up against the other top performer in the quarter, Corporate Finance & Restructuring, showing the relative strength of the Stars:

The high growth rate means FTI Consulting, Inc. must continue to fund promotion and placement for these services to solidify their market leadership. If this success is sustained as the market matures, you can definitely see FLC transitioning into a Cash Cow later on.

FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) - BCG Matrix: Cash Cows

When you look at FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN)'s portfolio, the Corporate Finance & Restructuring (CFR) segment clearly fits the Cash Cow profile. This unit operates in a mature space-core restructuring services-but it commands a high market share, meaning it consistently pulls in more cash than it needs to maintain its position. It's the engine room of the firm, providing the stable, high-margin revenue that funds the riskier bets elsewhere in the portfolio.

The numbers from the second quarter of 2025 really drive this home. You see substantial top-line performance coupled with excellent profitability. The segment's revenue for Q2 2025 hit $379.2 million. That's the largest segment revenue reported for FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) for that period.

What makes it a Cash Cow isn't just the size, but the efficiency. The Adjusted EBITDA margin for CFR in Q2 2025 was a high 21.5%. This margin is a significant improvement from the 19.1% seen in the prior year's second quarter, showing they are effectively managing costs even while demand is strong. This segment is counter-cyclical, which means it tends to perform well when the broader economy faces stress, giving FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) a reliable revenue stream regardless of the M&A cycle.

The growth rate, while solid, confirms its mature status. The segment posted a year-over-year revenue growth of 9.0% for Q2 2025. While 9.0% is good growth, it's not the explosive growth you'd expect from a Star; its primary strategic mandate here is to generate and harvest cash, not necessarily to aggressively expand market share through massive investment.

Here's a quick look at the key financials that define the CFR segment's Cash Cow status for Q2 2025:

The strategy for a Cash Cow like this is generally to maintain the current level of productivity-investing just enough to keep the infrastructure efficient and the market position secure. You want to 'milk' the gains passively, directing the resulting cash flow toward Question Marks or Stars.

The stability and profitability of this segment are critical for the overall health of FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN). You can see this stability reflected in the segment's operational metrics:

• Revenue increase driven by restructuring and transactions services.
• Adjusted Segment EBITDA grew to $81.7 million.
• The margin expansion to 21.5% shows pricing power.
• Lower demand for transformation & strategy services partially offset revenue gains.

Honestly, having a segment that delivers this level of cash flow, even with some headwinds in the strategy sub-unit, is what allows FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) to weather downturns in other areas, like the Technology segment's recent struggles. Finance: draft the 13-week cash flow projection incorporating the expected CFR contribution by Friday.

FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) - BCG Matrix: Dogs

Dogs, in the Boston Consulting Group Matrix framework, represent business units or products that possess a low market share in a low-growth market. These units typically break even or consume minimal cash, but they tie up capital that could be better deployed elsewhere.

For FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN), the Economic Consulting (EC) segment and the Technology segment exhibit characteristics aligning with the Dogs quadrant based on recent performance trends. The backdrop for these segments has been a slowdown in merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, which directly impacts demand for their specialized services.

The performance metrics for the Economic Consulting segment clearly illustrate this pressure:

• Economic Consulting revenue plunged 22.0% in Q3 2025 to $173.1 million compared to the prior year quarter's $222.0 million.
• This Q3 2025 revenue decline was primarily attributed to lower demand for non-M&A-related antitrust and M&A-related antitrust services.
• Looking at the prior quarter, Q2 2025 Economic Consulting GAAP revenues were $191.7 million, representing a 17.0% drop year-over-year.
• The segment's operating performance deteriorated significantly in Q3 2025, posting a Segment Operating Income (Loss) of $(5,823) thousand compared to $12,807 thousand in the prior year quarter.

Similarly, the Technology segment has faced sharp revenue contraction, also linked to the M&A slowdown:

Both segments are currently characterized as low-growth, low-share performers, which acts as a drag on the overall FTI Consulting, Inc. financial results, even as other segments like Corporate Finance & Restructuring and Forensic and Litigation Consulting deliver strong growth.

Management commentary reflects the uncertainty surrounding the turnaround timeline for the struggling unit. Specifically, CFO Paul Linton noted that the timing of improvement in Economic Consulting is not yet certain. This lack of a clear recovery path reinforces the Dogs classification, suggesting that expensive turn-around plans might not yield predictable results.

The overall financial context shows FTI Consulting, Inc. maintaining a strong overall position, with Q3 2025 total revenues at $956.2 million and EPS at $2.60. However, the weakness in these two areas suggests capital is currently trapped in low-return businesses, making divestiture a prime strategic consideration for these units.

FTI Consulting, Inc. (FCN) - BCG Matrix: Question Marks

You're looking at the business units that are burning cash today for a shot at tomorrow's market leadership. These Question Marks operate in markets that are expanding rapidly, but FTI Consulting, Inc. still holds a relatively small slice of that pie. Consider the Strategic Communications (StratComm) segment; while it's not a brand-new venture, its performance profile fits the mold of a unit needing aggressive support to move up the matrix. In the third quarter of 2025, StratComm delivered 7.6% revenue growth, bringing its quarterly revenue to $89.4 million.

The real Question Marks, however, are the firm's strategic bets in emerging, high-velocity areas. FTI Consulting, Inc. is making significant capital commitments to build share in AI-driven risk analytics and cybersecurity consulting. These are markets where the potential upside is massive, but current market share is low, meaning they consume substantial cash flow-from hiring senior experts to developing proprietary technology-without yet delivering commensurate returns. Honestly, these ventures are classic cash consumers right now.

Here's a quick look at the revenue scale across segments as of Q3 2025, which helps frame the relative size of these new bets against established operations:

The strategy here is clear: you must invest heavily to capture market share quickly, or these high-growth opportunities risk devolving into Dogs. The focus for these emerging areas is talent acquisition and technology build-out, which directly translates to high cash burn in the near term. You need to see rapid adoption to justify the spend.

The required investment profile for these Question Marks centers on securing top-tier human capital and proprietary tools:

• Invest heavily in senior talent for AI risk modeling.
• Fund technology development for proprietary analytics platforms.
• Aggressively market new cybersecurity consulting service lines.
• Build market awareness for new AI-driven reputation management tools.
• Increase sales and business development spend to secure initial contracts.

These areas, like the AI Reputation Monitor 2025 study FTI Strategic Communications released, show the direction of travel, but they need scale. If these investments succeed, they transition into Stars, contributing significantly to the overall $3.685 billion to $3.735 billion full-year 2025 revenue guidance. If they fail to gain traction, the cash consumed means they become a drag on the $82.8 million net income achieved in Q3 2025.

Finance: draft the 13-week cash view incorporating planned capital deployment for the new AI/Cybersecurity practice leads by Friday.