Analyzing HireQuest (HQI) & Its Peers

HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) is one of 203 publicly-traded companies in the “Professional Services” industry, but how does it compare to its rivals? We will compare HireQuest to similar companies based on the strength of its risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares HireQuest and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HireQuest	27.06%	16.35%	12.11%
HireQuest Competitors	-0.13%	35.53%	4.39%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

12.0% of HireQuest shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.4% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 42.9% of HireQuest shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.1% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

HireQuest pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. HireQuest pays out 42.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Professional Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.5% and pay out -136.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. HireQuest lags its rivals as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares HireQuest and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
HireQuest	$30.15 million	$6.33 million	30.71
HireQuest Competitors	$3.39 billion	$228.38 million	33.37

HireQuest’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than HireQuest. HireQuest is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for HireQuest and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HireQuest	0	1	2	0	2.67
HireQuest Competitors	1590	6465	9176	431	2.48

HireQuest currently has a consensus price target of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.55%. As a group, “Professional Services” companies have a potential upside of 28.11%. Given HireQuest’s rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe HireQuest has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Volatility and Risk

HireQuest has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HireQuest’s rivals have a beta of 0.97, suggesting that their average stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

HireQuest rivals beat HireQuest on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About HireQuest

HireQuest, Inc. provides temporary staffing services in the United States. It offers staffing services, including direct-dispatch, executive search, consultant, unskilled and semi-skilled industrial and construction personnel, clerical and administrative personnel, and permanent placement services, as well as commercial and non-CDL drivers, and skilled personnel in the medical and dental industries. The company provides its services under the HireQuest Direct, HireQuest, SNelling, DriverQuest, HireQuest Health, Northbound Executive Search, and MRI trade names. It serves construction, recycling, warehousing, logistics, auctioneering, manufacturing, hospitality, landscaping, and retail industries, as well as dental practices. HireQuest, Inc. was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Goose Creek, South Carolina.