Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN): BCG Matrix [Dec-2025 Updated]

You want to know where Huron Consulting Group Inc.'s cash is sitting and where the big future bets are as of late 2025, so here's the quick map: Healthcare is the clear Star, bringing in 50% of revenue with a 29% to 31% margin, while Education is the steady Cash Cow at 31% of RBR with a 23% to 25% margin. Honestly, the action is in the Commercial segment-a Question Mark growing fastest at 26.6% but with the lowest margin at 16% to 18%-which contrasts sharply with the removal of legacy Dogs like the Studer Education business. See below for the full, hard numbers on this portfolio strategy.

Background of Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN)

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN) is a global professional services firm that provides expertise across technology, operations, advisory services, and analytics to its clients. Founded in 2002, the company is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and its common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol HURN. You should know that C. Mark Hussey serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President.

Huron structures its operations around three primary segments: Healthcare, Education, and Commercial. As of early 2025, the Healthcare segment was the largest contributor, accounting for approximately 50% of the revenues before reimbursable expenses (RBR), with Education at 31% and the Commercial segment at 19%.

The company has demonstrated strong recent financial momentum. For the third quarter of 2025, Huron reported a record revenue of $432.4 million in RBR, which was a 16.8% increase year-over-year. This performance led to an updated full-year 2025 revenue guidance, narrowed to a range between $1.65 billion and $1.67 billion.

Growth in the third quarter of 2025 was broad-based across all segments, with the Commercial segment showing the highest percentage increase at 26.6% in RBR, followed by Healthcare at 19.9%, and Education at 6.9%. Operationally, the total number of revenue-generating professionals, excluding Managed Services staff, grew by 15.2% to reach 5,244 as of September 30, 2025, reflecting both hiring to meet demand and recent acquisitions.

Profitability metrics also showed improvement, with third-quarter 2025 Adjusted EBITDA rising to $67.4 million, a 22.9% increase from the prior year period. The company has been active in its growth strategy, integrating acquisitions like AXIA Consulting, Inc. in late 2024, and others in early 2025 to broaden its capabilities, particularly within the Commercial and Education segments. To be defintely clear, Huron has not declared or paid dividends on its common stock since it became a public company.

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN) - BCG Matrix: Stars

You're analyzing Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN)'s portfolio, and the Healthcare segment clearly fits the Star profile: high market share in a market that's still growing fast, even if it consumes a lot of cash to maintain that leadership position. This segment is the engine right now, defintely requiring significant investment to keep that lead. The core driver here is the intense pressure providers are facing, which translates directly into client demand for Huron Consulting Group Inc.'s expertise.

The segment's dominance in the overall business is clear when you look at the year-to-date figures for revenues before reimbursable expenses (RBR). It's the largest piece of the pie, commanding a 50% share of the total RBR for both the first quarter and the first nine months of 2025. You can see how this compares to the other units:

This high market share is being actively supported by a focus on specific, high-demand offerings. The growth is fueled by client needs in:

• Performance improvement consulting.
• Financial advisory services.
• Revenue cycle managed services.

The market growth rate, which signals a Star, is evident in the recent quarterly performance. For the third quarter of 2025, the Healthcare segment delivered record RBR of $219.5 million, marking a 19.9% increase year-over-year compared to Q3 2024. Even looking back at Q1 2025, the segment saw its RBR increase by 10% over the prior year, showing sustained momentum.

The expected profitability reflects the premium associated with leading in this high-growth area, though it also suggests the cash burn needed to support this growth. For the full-year 2025 projection, the operating income margin for the Healthcare segment is anticipated to be the highest across the firm, landing in the 29% to 31% range. To put that in context, the Education segment is projected for 23% to 25%, and the Commercial segment is expected to be in the 16% to 18% range for the full year.

Finance: draft the Q4 cash flow projection incorporating the capital needs to sustain the 29% to 31% margin goal for Healthcare by Friday.

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN) - BCG Matrix: Cash Cows

You're analyzing Huron Consulting Group Inc.'s portfolio and see the Education segment fitting squarely into the Cash Cow quadrant. This business unit has established itself in a mature market, characterized by a steady, though not explosive, growth rate, which allows it to generate reliable cash flow for the entire enterprise.

The Education segment is a substantial part of the whole, representing 31% of Huron Consulting Group Inc.'s year-to-date 2025 Revenues Before Reimbursable Expenses (RBR). This high market share in a stable sector is what defines its Cash Cow status. For instance, in the third quarter of 2025, this segment posted RBR of $129.4 million.

The growth profile confirms market maturity. Q3 2025 RBR growth for the Education segment was a more moderate 6.9% year-over-year. This slower pace, compared to other segments, suggests the market is established, but the segment's ability to maintain profitability is key to its value proposition to Huron Consulting Group Inc.

Profitability is high, which is exactly what you look for in a Cash Cow. Huron Consulting Group Inc. expects the full-year 2025 operating margin for the Education segment to be in the 23% to 25% range. This strong margin performance, even with lower growth, means the segment is a reliable source of funding for the company's higher-growth, higher-risk Question Marks.

This segment primarily provides consistent cash flow from strategy and operations consulting, helping universities navigate structural funding shifts. The stability here is what allows Huron Consulting Group Inc. to invest aggressively elsewhere. Here's a quick look at the key figures supporting this positioning:

The strategy for a Cash Cow like this is to 'milk' the gains passively while making only necessary investments to maintain efficiency and cash flow. You want to keep the infrastructure supporting this unit lean. Investments here should focus on efficiency improvements, like deploying AI/automation mentioned by management, rather than expensive market expansion efforts.

The cash generated by this segment is vital for the overall corporate structure. You can see how this consistent internal funding supports other parts of the business:

• Provides capital to fund research and development initiatives.
• Covers general administrative costs for Huron Consulting Group Inc.
• Funds the necessary investments to support Question Marks.
• Supports debt servicing and shareholder returns, such as the $152.5 million returned via share repurchases year-to-date 2025.

If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises, but for this segment, the focus is on maintaining the high utilization rates seen elsewhere, like the 73.7% Consulting capability utilization in Q3 2025.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN) - BCG Matrix: Dogs

You're looking at the units Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN) has strategically pruned from its portfolio, the classic BCG Dogs. These are the businesses that, despite tying up capital, offer little growth or market position. The most concrete example here is the recent, decisive action taken at the end of 2024.

The Studer Education business was divested on December 31, 2024, for a cash consideration of $4.7 million. This move clearly signals Huron Consulting Group Inc.'s intent to shed non-core, low-growth assets that don't align with the current digital transformation focus. Honestly, expensive turnarounds for these units rarely pay off, so a clean exit is often the right call.

While the Commercial segment posted record Revenue Before Reimbursable Expenses (RBR) of $75.4 million in Q2 2025, up 28.2% year-over-year, the Dog category captures the legacy or underperforming service lines within or across segments that are being phased out. For instance, the Q2 2025 utilization rate for Consulting was 77%, and for Digital, it was 78%, indicating these core areas are healthy. The Dogs are the inverse: older, non-digital service lines with utilization rates that fall significantly below these figures, consuming resources without driving the firm's growth narrative.

The profile of a Huron Consulting Group Inc. Dog centers on low market traction and minimal future prospects, leading to divestiture or active minimization. This strategy removes drag on overall performance metrics:

• Divested asset sale price: $4.7 million.
• Divestiture date: December 31, 2024.
• Focus on phasing out older, non-digital offerings.
• Assets consuming resources without significant returns.
• Contrast with Consulting utilization of 77% (Q2 2025).

To show you the contrast between what was removed and what is driving the current success, look at the RBR performance from the segments that are clearly not Dogs:

You must treat these Dog units as cash traps, even if they are only marginally unprofitable or cash-neutral. The capital tied up in a unit with a utilization rate, say, below 65%, could be better deployed into the areas showing low double-digit RBR growth goals. Finance: draft the Q4 2025 utilization report focusing only on service lines below 70% by next Tuesday.

Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN) - BCG Matrix: Question Marks

You're looking at the Commercial segment of Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN) through the lens of the BCG Matrix, identifying it as a Question Mark-a high-growth area where market share is still low. This unit consumes capital but holds the potential to become a Star.

The Commercial segment is reported as the smallest component of the business, making up only 19% of year-to-date 2025 Revenues Before Reimbursable Expenses (RBR). This small footprint contrasts sharply with its growth trajectory.

For the third quarter of 2025, the Commercial segment RBR growth was the fastest across the firm, achieving a 26.6% rise. Honestly, this rapid expansion is heavily influenced by strategic moves, such as the integration of AXIA Consulting, which was acquired in December 2024 to bolster supply chain and technology offerings within this segment.

Here's a quick look at how the segments stacked up in the first quarter of 2025 for context on relative size, and the current margin expectations for the full year 2025:

The profitability profile for this segment reflects its Question Mark status. The full-year 2025 operating margin expectation is lower than the other segments, projected at approximately 16% to 18%. This lower margin is typical for a segment in a high-growth phase that requires significant investment to capture market share.

The core bet for turning this Question Mark into a Star lies in its digital capabilities. Management highlighted that growth in the Commercial segment is supported by strong demand for digital offerings. This area requires continued, defintely significant investment to rapidly gain market share against established competitors. The acquisition of AXIA Consulting specifically aimed to expand Oracle supply chain management (SCM) and Microsoft capabilities, which are key digital growth vectors.

The need for aggressive investment is clear, as these units consume cash now to build future market dominance. The strategic options are straightforward:

• Invest heavily to quickly grow market share and transition to a Star.
• Divest if the potential for rapid share gain diminishes.

The firm's overall RBR guidance for the full year 2025 is narrowed to a range of $1.65 billion to $1.67 billion, affirming the need for strong execution across all segments, including this capital-intensive growth area.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.