Latest news with #BarrettBusinessServices
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Here are 3 Outsourcing Stocks to Consider Amid Industry Woes
Data privacy regulations, communication barriers and geopolitical risks are casting a shadow on the Zacks Outsourcing industry. Quality control issues and loss of control are other headwinds. However, the need to cut down costs, the onset of remote work, the rising focus on cybersecurity awareness, and the surge in trends such as AI and ML are the key can consider Barrett Business Services, Inc. BBSI, The Brink's Company, Inc. BCO, and Capgemini SE CGEMYfrom the Outsourcing market. About the Industry Outsourcing involves delegating a company's internal operations to external resources or third-party contractors to enhance operational efficiency. Within the Zacks Outsourcing sector, one can find companies that provide human capital, business management and IT solutions, primarily catering to small and medium-sized enterprises. These services encompass a broad spectrum, including HR support, payroll management, administration of benefits, retirement planning and insurance services. Certain firms excel in delivering business process services, with a strong focus on transaction processing, analytics and global automation solutions. This outsourcing approach empowers businesses to concentrate on their core competencies while external experts manage these critical functions. What's Shaping the Future of the Outsourcing Industry? The business process outsourcing (BPO) services experience higher demand due to greater flexibility, lower costs and enhanced service quality. The IT outsourcing market is also in robust shape. In the future, outsourced IT services will cover a wide array of functions, including programming and technical support. Companies can outsource entire IT departments to cut costs and focus on core operations. The shortage of in-house engineering talent will drive the outsourcing trend. The demand for robust data encryption and cybersecurity measures is rising on the back of increased public awareness and evolving cyber threats, such as ransomware and national-level cyberattacks. To mitigate cybersecurity threats, companies are focusing on employee security awareness training and breach detection systems. Businesses are increasingly turning to outsourced cybersecurity services to lower risks, maintain compliance and support scalability in their operations. Trends like the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are gradually transforming the outsourcing sector. These innovations improve efficiency, lead to innovations and increase competitiveness, changing the outsourcing landscape for businesses to streamline operations. For instance, IoT data can be collected, processed and analyzed in the cloud, enabling real-time decision-making and predictive maintenance for clients. By integrating AI and ML into customer support outsourcing, companies can provide swifter, effective and consistent customer support while optimizing operational costs. Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Dull Near-Term Prospects The Zacks Outsourcing industry, which is housed within the broader Zacks Business Services sector, currently carries a Zacks Industry Rank #196. This rank places it in the bottom 20% of 246 Zacks industries. The group's Zacks Industry Rank, which is the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates continued underperformance in the near term. Our research shows that the top 50% of Zacks-ranked industries outperformthe bottom 50% by a factor of more than two to one. Before we present a few stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, let us take a look at the industry's recent stock market performance and current valuation. Industry Underperforms Sector & S&P 500 Over the past year, the Zacks Outsourcing industry underperformed the broader Zacks Business Services sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite. The industry has declined 6.9% over this period against the broader sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite's 16.6% and 13.8% growth, respectively. Industry's Current Valuation On the basis of forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E), commonly used for valuing outsourcing stocks, the industry is currently trading at 15.96X compared with the S&P 500's 22.75X and the sector's 22.38. In the past five years, the industry has traded as high as 19.71X and as low as 15.07X, with the median being 16.01X, as the charts below show. 3 Outsourcing Stocks Worth a Look Barrett Business Services: This company provides payroll administration, health benefits, staffing and recruiting, and a range of additional services. New client sales, coupled with the upselling of new products and great client retention, are driving BBSI's top line. The company is enjoying success from entering markets with its asset-light model in terms of adding more worksite employees. The company is active on the technology front as well. Barrett Business Services' investment in myBBSI to aid BBSI Benefits is improving client service and support. The BBSI Application Tracking System, launched in March, is receiving positive feedback from clients as well. Overall, the company's investments in technology are reaping benefits and are expected to do so in the long run. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company's fiscal 2025 EPS of $2.11 has been flat over the past 30 days. BBSI shares have gained 7.2% over the past three months. Barrett Business Services carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Brink: This is a leading global provider of cash and valuables management, digital retail solutions, and ATM managed services. Growth across all the segments is fueling the top line. Digital Retail Solutions is growing across North America on the back of new installations in auto parts stores and restaurants, while in Latin America, installations in wholesale and C-store markets in Mexico are the driving factors. The company anticipates ATM Managed Services to accelerate in the second half of 2025 due to deployments and pipeline growth. BCO's Global Services Business is growing as long-term customer relationships and global networks are strengthening. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company's fiscal 2025 EPS of $7.35 has been flat over the past 30 of Brink have gained 7.5% over the past three months. BCO carries a Zacks Rank #3 at present. Capgemini:This multinational IT services and consulting company is benefiting from a good momentum in financial services and the public sector. The company is experiencing strong growth across the U.K., Ireland, the Asia Pacific and Latin America. On the AI front, CGEMY is witnessing consistent traction with robust client demand. Gen AI is a huge driving factor behind the company's progress in the AI domain. Apart from that, Agentic AI is fueling operational efficiency and value creation. Capgemini is benefiting from investments in key assets. The company has launched a platform to create, integrate and monitor trusted AI agents within its Agentic AI gallery. This helps the company deploy AI for clients while ensuring security and privacy are maintained at the highest levels. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company's 2025 EPS has been revised marginally upward to $2.58 over the past 30 days. Shares of Capgemini have gained 9% over the past three months. CGEMY has a Zacks Rank #3 at present. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Barrett Business Services, Inc. (BBSI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Brink's Company (The) (BCO) : Free Stock Analysis Report Cap Gemini SA (CGEMY) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Concerns Surrounding Barrett Business Services' (NASDAQ:BBSI) Performance
Barrett Business Services, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:BBSI) healthy profit numbers didn't contain any surprises for investors. We believe that shareholders have noticed some concerning factors beyond the statutory profit numbers. We've discovered 1 warning sign about Barrett Business Services. View them for free. Many investors haven't heard of the accrual ratio from cashflow, but it is actually a useful measure of how well a company's profit is backed up by free cash flow (FCF) during a given period. The accrual ratio subtracts the FCF from the profit for a given period, and divides the result by the average operating assets of the company over that time. You could think of the accrual ratio from cashflow as the 'non-FCF profit ratio'. Therefore, it's actually considered a good thing when a company has a negative accrual ratio, but a bad thing if its accrual ratio is positive. While it's not a problem to have a positive accrual ratio, indicating a certain level of non-cash profits, a high accrual ratio is arguably a bad thing, because it indicates paper profits are not matched by cash flow. That's because some academic studies have suggested that high accruals ratios tend to lead to lower profit or less profit growth. Over the twelve months to March 2025, Barrett Business Services recorded an accrual ratio of 0.68. As a general rule, that bodes poorly for future profitability. To wit, the company did not generate one whit of free cashflow in that time. In the last twelve months it actually had negative free cash flow, with an outflow of US$9.6m despite its profit of US$52.1m, mentioned above. It's worth noting that Barrett Business Services generated positive FCF of US$91m a year ago, so at least they've done it in the past. One positive for Barrett Business Services shareholders is that it's accrual ratio was significantly better last year, providing reason to believe that it may return to stronger cash conversion in the future. As a result, some shareholders may be looking for stronger cash conversion in the current year. That might leave you wondering what analysts are forecasting in terms of future profitability. Luckily, you can click here to see an interactive graph depicting future profitability, based on their estimates. As we have made quite clear, we're a bit worried that Barrett Business Services didn't back up the last year's profit with free cashflow. As a result, we think it may well be the case that Barrett Business Services' underlying earnings power is lower than its statutory profit. But at least holders can take some solace from the 40% per annum growth in EPS for the last three. At the end of the day, it's essential to consider more than just the factors above, if you want to understand the company properly. So if you'd like to dive deeper into this stock, it's crucial to consider any risks it's facing. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign that you should run your eye over to get a better picture of Barrett Business Services. Today we've zoomed in on a single data point to better understand the nature of Barrett Business Services' profit. But there are plenty of other ways to inform your opinion of a company. For example, many people consider a high return on equity as an indication of favorable business economics, while others like to 'follow the money' and search out stocks that insiders are buying. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks with high insider ownership. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Washington Post
07-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Barrett: Q1 Earnings Snapshot
VANCOUVER, Wash. — VANCOUVER, Wash. — Barrett Business Services Inc. (BBSI) on Wednesday reported a loss of $1 million in its first quarter. On a per-share basis, the Vancouver, Washington-based company said it had a loss of 4 cents.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A Look Back at Professional Staffing & HR Solutions Stocks' Q4 Earnings: Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) Vs The Rest Of The Pack
Quarterly earnings results are a good time to check in on a company's progress, especially compared to its peers in the same sector. Today we are looking at Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) and the best and worst performers in the professional staffing & hr solutions industry. The Professional Staffing & HR Solutions subsector within Business Services is set to benefit from evolving workforce trends, including the rise of remote work and the gig economy. With companies casting a wider net to find talent due to remote work, the expertise of staffing and recruiting companies is even more valuable. For those who invest wisely, the use of predictive AI in recruitment and screening as well as automation in HR workflows can enhance efficiency and scalability. On the other hand, digitization means that talent discovery is less of a manual process, opening the door for tech-first platforms. Additionally, regulatory scrutiny around data privacy in HR is evolving and may require companies in this sector to change their go-to-market strategies over time. The 8 professional staffing & HR solutions stocks we track reported a mixed Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts' consensus estimates by 0.6% while next quarter's revenue guidance was 0.7% below. While some professional staffing & HR solutions stocks have fared somewhat better than others, they have collectively declined. On average, share prices are down 2% since the latest earnings results. With clients including 97% of the S&P 100 and operations in 103 offices across 51 countries, Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) is a global consulting firm that helps organizations design optimal structures, recruit talent, develop leaders, and create effective compensation strategies. Korn Ferry reported revenues of $676.5 million, flat year on year. This print exceeded analysts' expectations by 2.8%. Overall, it was a satisfactory quarter for the company with an impressive beat of analysts' EPS estimates but revenue guidance for next quarter slightly missing analysts' expectations. The stock is up 9.7% since reporting and currently trades at $68.39. Is now the time to buy Korn Ferry? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. Operating as a professional employer organization (PEO) that serves over 8,000 companies with more than 120,000 worksite employees, Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) provides management solutions that help small and mid-sized businesses handle human resources, payroll, workers' compensation, and other administrative functions. Barrett reported revenues of $304.8 million, up 10.2% year on year, outperforming analysts' expectations by 3.8%. The business had a strong quarter with a decent beat of analysts' EPS estimates. Barrett achieved the biggest analyst estimates beat among its peers. The market seems content with the results as the stock is up 3.3% since reporting. It currently trades at $41.80. Is now the time to buy Barrett? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free. Processing approximately 100 million background checks annually across more than 200 countries and territories, First Advantage (NASDAQ:FA) provides employment background screening, identity verification, and compliance solutions to help companies manage hiring risks. First Advantage reported revenues of $307.1 million, up 51.6% year on year, falling short of analysts' expectations by 3.4%. It was a disappointing quarter as it posted a significant miss of analysts' full-year EPS guidance estimates. First Advantage delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates in the group. As expected, the stock is down 25.6% since the results and currently trades at $13.79. Read our full analysis of First Advantage's results here. With roots dating back to 1948 as the first specialized recruiting firm for accounting and finance professionals, Robert Half (NYSE:RHI) provides specialized talent solutions and business consulting services, connecting skilled professionals with companies across various fields. Robert Half reported revenues of $1.38 billion, down 6.1% year on year. This result was in line with analysts' expectations. Taking a step back, it was a slower quarter as it produced a miss of analysts' EPS estimates. Robert Half had the slowest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is down 20.1% since reporting and currently trades at $55.28. Read our full, actionable report on Robert Half here, it's free. Born from a corporate spinoff in 2020 to focus on employee experience technology, Alight (NYSE:ALIT) provides human capital management solutions that help companies administer employee benefits, payroll, and workforce management systems. Alight reported revenues of $680 million, down 1.6% year on year. This print met analysts' expectations. However, it was a slower quarter as it recorded a significant miss of analysts' full-year EPS guidance estimates. Alight had the weakest full-year guidance update among its peers. The stock is down 7.8% since reporting and currently trades at $6.17. Read our full, actionable report on Alight here, it's free. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 5 Growth Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Join Paid Stock Investor Research Help us make StockStory more helpful to investors like yourself. Join our paid user research session and receive a $50 Amazon gift card for your opinions. Sign up here. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Barrett Business Services' (NASDAQ:BBSI) investors will be pleased with their enviable 313% return over the last five years
The worst result, after buying shares in a company (assuming no leverage), would be if you lose all the money you put in. But on the bright side, if you buy shares in a high quality company at the right price, you can gain well over 100%. Long term Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) shareholders would be well aware of this, since the stock is up 284% in five years. The last week saw the share price soften some 3.0%. So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 5 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns. AI is about to change healthcare. These 20 stocks are working on everything from early diagnostics to drug discovery. The best part - they are all under $10bn in marketcap - there is still time to get in early. In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement. Over half a decade, Barrett Business Services managed to grow its earnings per share at 4.8% a year. This EPS growth is lower than the 31% average annual increase in the share price. So it's fair to assume the market has a higher opinion of the business than it did five years ago. That's not necessarily surprising considering the five-year track record of earnings growth. You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values). It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Barrett Business Services' earnings, revenue and cash flow . As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. We note that for Barrett Business Services the TSR over the last 5 years was 313%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return. It's nice to see that Barrett Business Services shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 33% over the last year. That's including the dividend. However, that falls short of the 33% TSR per annum it has made for shareholders, each year, over five years. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Even so, be aware that Barrett Business Services is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about... Of course Barrett Business Services may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Sign in to access your portfolio
