CTPartners Executive Search (CTPR) Stock Analysis & Winston Score

CTPartners Executive Search is a firm that helps companies find and hire senior executives — people like CEOs, CFOs, and board members. Its clients are mostly large corporations and private equity firms across industries like finance, healthcare, and technology. The company competes in the executive search industry, which is sometimes called "retained search" because clients pay fees upfront to find top-level talent.

CTPartners earns money by charging fees tied to the compensation of the executive being placed, typically a percentage of the hire's first-year salary. It operates globally, with offices across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, though it is much smaller than dominant rivals like Spencer Stuart, Korn Ferry, and Heidrick & Struggles. The business is highly dependent on the overall health of the economy and corporate hiring budgets — when companies freeze hiring during downturns, revenue can drop quickly, which remains the central risk for the firm.

Winston Score History

Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

-12.8% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Revenue declining

EPS Growth

-187.5% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Earnings declining

Insider Activity

4.4%ownership

→ Flat

Insiders holding steady — not selling despite ability to

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$5M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Revenue declining

CTPartners Executive Search's revenue is actually shrinking. In a growth stock, that removes the core investment thesis. The low Winston Score here may be warranted — unless there's a turnaround story.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

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Quality

Gross Margin

96.8%

Premium pricing power — 96.8% gross margin

Operating Margin

-3.9%

Losing money on operations — -3.9%

ROCE

-3.1%

Weak — -3.1% return on capital

Negative ROIC means the business is losing money on every dollar invested in it.

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Growth

Sales YoY

+18.1%

Fast-growing sales (18.1% YoY)

EPS YoY

-22.7%

Earnings shrinking (-22.7% YoY)

Earnings per share down more than 10%. Either a bad year, or a real decline.

EPS Consistency

4/8 quarters

Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion

1129%

Turns 1129% of profit into real cash

FCF Margin

5.1%

Thin free cash flow (5.1%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

Debt / Equity

0.84

Moderate — manageable debt (0.84)

Interest Cover

9.19x

Comfortably covers interest (9.2x)

Interest coverage above 8. Profits cover interest many times over.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)

0.0x

no trend

Attractive valuation — P/E 0.0

P/E under 10. The price tag is small relative to last year's profit.

P/E vs Forward

N/A

not available

Data not available

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.

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