Comparing HAYS (OTCMKTS:HAYPY) and Kelly Services (NASDAQ:KELYB)

Kelly Services (NASDAQ:KELYB) and HAYS (OTCMKTS:HAYPY) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, valuation and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.2% of Kelly Services shares are held by institutional investors. 93.1% of Kelly Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Kelly Services and HAYS”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Kelly Services	$4.25 billion	0.16	-$254.10 million	($7.60)	-2.60
HAYS	$8.55 billion	0.07	-$10.09 million	N/A	N/A

HAYS has higher revenue and earnings than Kelly Services.

Volatility and Risk

Kelly Services has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HAYS has a beta of 0.01, indicating that its stock price is 99% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Kelly Services pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. HAYS pays an annual dividend of $0.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Kelly Services pays out -3.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Kelly Services and HAYS, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Kelly Services	1	0	0	0	1.00
HAYS	0	0	0	0	0.00

Profitability

This table compares Kelly Services and HAYS’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kelly Services	-6.44%	3.07%	1.41%
HAYS	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Kelly Services beats HAYS on 9 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kelly Services

Kelly Services, Inc. engages in staffing and workforce solutions. It operates through the following segments: Americas Staffing, Global Talent Solutions, and International Staffing. The Americas Staffing segment delivers temporary staffing, as well as direct-hire placement services, in a number of specialty staffing services, including office, education, marketing, electronic assembly, light industrial, science, engineering, and information technology in United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. The Global Talent Solutions segment offers outsourcing, consulting, and centrally delivered staffing business. The International Staffing segment relates to branch-delivered staffing business in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, as well as in the Asia Pacific. The company was founded by William Russell Kelly on October 7, 1946 and is headquartered in Troy, MI.

About HAYS

Hays plc engages in the provision of recruitment services in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company provides qualified, professional, and skilled recruitment in permanent, temporary, and contractor formats to public and private sectors. It offers its recruitment services in the specialisms, such as technology, accountancy and finance, engineering, construction and property, office support, life sciences, sales and marketing, and others. Hays plc was founded in 1968 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.