Huron's AI inflection: record RBR, rising guidance, and a re-rating in motion

Record Q2 revenue and an AI-driven bookings surge underpin a 34% rally and a guidance raise with organic growth across all three segments.

HURN · Earnings Call · 2026-07-28

A record quarter and an upward revision

Huron Reporting its second quarter of 2026 delivered the kind of print that moves a stock: revenue before reimbursable expenses (RBR) rose 16% year-over-year to a record $465.6M, with organic RBR up 10.8%. CFO John Kelly highlighted the momentum when he guided to the full year, raising RBR guidance to $1.85B–$1.89B and increasing adjusted EPS to $9.00–$9.40. The company's confidence is grounded in more than just the quarter — bookings accelerated across all three segments in Q2, building on a first half where digital bookings were up over 20%. “Led by strong organic growth across all 3 operating segments, we achieved record revenues before reimbursable expenses or RBR in the second quarter of 2026, increasing 16% compared to the second quarter of 2025.” — C. Hussey, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-07-28

AI is the growth engine – and it's broadening the addressable market

The most conspicuous change at Huron this quarter is the explicit role AI is playing in demand. Management quantified that more than 60% of digital bookings now include either direct AI scope or AI-enabled delivery, up from roughly 35% in the first half of 2025. That is a substantial mix shift, and it is driving a rethinking of the company's long-term growth algorithm. CEO Mark Hussey framed AI as a way to expand the company's reach:

we're listening to the client, what is on their mind. So it might be to – just as we described, we have opportunities that come in for a stand-alone AI project that might be strategy or governance, you have others that are kind of embedded into perhaps larger digital initiatives as one aspect and sometimes they're AI first as a digital initiative.
C. Hussey, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-07-28

This is more than talk. The company is embedding its proprietary data and industry expertise into AI-enabled solutions, as highlighted in the proprietary data discussion around the clinical intelligent automation tool. Management also stressed that AI is helping to compress assessment times from weeks to hours, which not only improves client outcomes but also shifts low-margin work into higher-value implementation and managed services. The result is a addressable market that is expanding, as John Kelly noted: “I think our teams are increasingly excited about take all of the collective experience, know-how, IP that we have, and our ability to use AI to be able to deploy that in new ways for our clients, expanding the addressable market.” — John Kelly, Chief Financial Officer · 2026-07-28 The company's deploying AI approach extends beyond client work into internal efficiency, which is helping to drive margin expansion. CFO John Kelly gave a concrete example: the use of AI in contracting, billing, and collections is already streamlining expenses.

Managed services and M&A: compounding the momentum

Huron's managed services business is the other standout, with healthcare managed services RBR up 64% in Q2, including 43% organic growth. The business is built on an outcome based model, which has proven highly attractive to financially strapped healthcare providers. CEO Mark Hussey contrasted Huron's approach with competitors: “we're very different than some of the big providers in this space, the R1s, the Ensembles, et cetera, because often we start with that deep consulting knowledge of our clients from a revenue cycle perspective.” — C. Hussey, Chief Executive Officer · 2026-07-28 The acquisition of RelateCare adds AI-enabled clinical and patient access managed services, reinforcing the patient journey and expanding the company's addressable market. Management reiterated its programmatic M&A strategy, targeting 2%–4% RBR growth from tuck-ins, and the deal is expected to be accretive by about $0.10 to adjusted EPS in 2026.

Financial trajectory and valuation

The market is rewarding this narrative: HURN is up 34% over the trailing 90 days, and it sits roughly 5% below its July 29 peak (near its all-time high from January 2026). The company's fundamentals support a re-rating. Total revenue has grown at a double-digit clip for five consecutive quarters, and operating income has expanded from $37M in Q1 2026 to $46M in Q2. More importantly, the company is guiding to adjusted EBITDA margins of 14.5%–15% for 2026, up 50 basis points year-over-year, with a stated path toward 15%–17% by 2029. The raise in guidance is notable because it comes on the back of a quarter where the company's prior- backlog coverage was already at historic highs, and management explicitly noted that bookings and pipeline have continued to strengthen. In a prior call, John Kelly had pointed to the same phenomenon: “in the trailing six-month period, the period ending 03/31/2026, bookings were up greater than 20% across all three of the segments.” — John D. Kelly, Chief Financial Officer · 2026-05-05 The consistency of that theme is now being corroborated by a step-up in organic growth. The balance sheet also supports the narrative: net debt declined $26.8M in Q2 to $802.8M, and leverage fell to 2.8x adjusted EBITDA from 3.1x in Q1. Management remains committed to a 2x–2.5x range by year-end, with free cash flow generation of $111M in Q2 buttressing buybacks and M&A.

Why it matters

Huron is not merely riding a tailwind — it is monetizing an AI-driven transformation across its consulting, digital, and managed services lines. The company is executing on a clear plan to expand margins and earnings power, and the market is paying attention. With a robust pipeline, a strengthening digital business, and a proven ability to acquire and integrate, Huron's re-rating may have further to go.