Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Bear Of The Day: Robert Half Inc (RHI)

Read MoreHide Full Article

Robert Half Inc (RHI - Free Report) is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) as earnings estimates have tracked lower following an earnings miss in July.  The company is one of the largest provider of professional consulting and staffing services. This article will look at why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) as it is the Bear of the Day.

Description

Robert Half, Inc. engages in the provision of talent solutions and business consulting services. It operates through the following segments: Contract Talent Solutions, Permanent Placement Talent Solutions, and Protiviti. The Contract Talent Solutions segment refers to the fields of finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, and administrative and customer support. The Permanent Placement Talent Solutions segment focuses on accounting, finance, tax, and accounting operations personnel. The Protiviti segment solves problems in finance, technology, operations, data, digital, legal, human resources, governance, risk, and internal audit. The company was founded by Robert Half in 1948 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA.

Earnings History

When I look at a stock, the first thing I do is look to see if the company is beating the number.  This tells me right away where the market’s expectations have been for the company and how management has communicated to the market.  A stock that consistently beats has management communicating expectations to Wall Street that can be achieved.  That is what you want to see.

In the case of Robert Half Inc, I see three beats of the Zacks Consensus Estimate and one miss. The most recent quarter was a miss with the company posting $0.66 when the consensus was calling for $0.71.  This alone does not make the stock a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and it doesn’t make it a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) either.

The Zacks Rank does care about the earnings history, but it is much more heavily influenced by the movement of earnings estimates.

Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Rank tells us which stocks are seeing earnings estimates move higher or in this case lower.  For RHI I see annual estimates moving lower of late.

The current fiscal year consensus number moved lower from $2.92 to $2.69 over the last 7 days. 

The next year has moved from $3.86 to $3.63 over the last 7 days.

Negative movement in earnings estimates like that is why this stock is a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

It should be noted that a lot of stocks in the Zacks universe are seeing negative earnings estimate revisions.  That means that the stocks that are seeing small but negative earnings estimate revisions are falling to a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Robert Half Inc. (RHI) - free report >>

Published in