Contrasting Kelly Services (KELYA) & Its Rivals

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

Volatility & Risk

Kelly Services has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kelly Services’ competitors have a beta of 0.98, suggesting that their average share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Kelly Services and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kelly Services	-6.73%	2.69%	1.19%
Kelly Services Competitors	-0.59%	20.75%	4.33%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

76.3% of Kelly Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.4% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 5.4% of Kelly Services shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.1% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Kelly Services pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Kelly Services pays out -3.8% 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 -118.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Kelly Services lags its competitors as a dividend stock, given its lower dividend yield and higher payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Kelly Services and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kelly Services	1	1	1	0	2.00
Kelly Services Competitors	1575	6432	9162	430	2.48

Kelly Services currently has a consensus target price of $20.00, indicating a potential upside of 20.55%. As a group, “Professional Services” companies have a potential upside of 26.93%. Given Kelly Services’ competitors stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Kelly Services has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Kelly Services and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kelly Services	$4.06 billion	-$254.10 million	-2.12
Kelly Services Competitors	$3.32 billion	$228.36 million	29.45

Kelly Services has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. Kelly Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Kelly Services competitors beat Kelly Services on 13 of the 15 factors compared.

Kelly Services Company Profile

Kelly Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides workforce solutions to various industries. The company operates through five segments: Professional & Industrial; Science, Engineering & Technology; Education; Outsourcing & Consulting; and International. The Professional & Industrial segment delivers staffing, outcome-based, and permanent placement services providing administrative, accounting, and finance; light industrial; contact center staffing; and other workforce solutions. The Science, Engineering & Technology segment offers staffing, outcome-based, and permanent placement services in the areas of science and clinical research, engineering, technology, and telecommunications specialties. The Education segment provides staffing, permanent placement, and executive search services to pre-K-12 school districts and education organizations. The Outsourcing & Consulting segment offers managed service provider, recruitment process outsourcing, payroll process outsourcing, and executive coaching programs to customers on a global basis that includes its RocketPower brand. The International segment provides staffing, recruitment process outsourcing, and permanent placement services. The company serves customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Russia, Italy, rest of Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. Kelly Services, Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Troy, Michigan.