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what it is
HireQuest helps businesses find hourly workers fast and lets many of those workers get paid the same day.
how it gets paid
Last year Hirequest made $35M in revenue. hirequest direct franchising was the main engine at $14.0M, or 40% of sales.
what just happened
Was weird in the best way: revenue reached $24M and EPS hit $0.34.
At a glance
B balance sheet — gets the job done, barely
30/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
22.5x trailing p/e — priced about right
2.2% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
6.1% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 45/100 — below average
What they do
HireQuest helps businesses find hourly workers fast and lets many of those workers get paid the same day.
If you need 20 workers on your site tomorrow morning, speed matters more than corporate poetry. HireQuest gives workers daily pay and helps arrange rides, which solves two real problems before sunrise. The company also runs a franchise network with about 210 active MRI locations and just 92 employees, so your local branch stays close to the customer while the parent company stays lean.
How they make money
$35M
annual revenue
hirequest direct franchising
$14.0M
light industrial staffing brands
$8.8M
mri executive search
$7.0M
mri temp and contract recruiting
$3.5M
other franchise fees
$1.7M
The products that matter
temporary industrial staffing
HireQuest Direct
$31.5M · roughly 90% of revenue
it's the core engine, generating $31.5M of the company's $35M revenue base. If this line keeps shrinking, the whole thesis breaks with it.
core segment
executive search franchising
MRINetwork
Q1 2026 initiatives
management flagged new strategic initiatives beginning in Q1 2026, but this page does not disclose segment revenue. For now, that's option value, not a number-driven thesis.
data thin
Key numbers
$35M
annual revenue
That is the whole company. Small size cuts both ways because wins show up fast and mistakes do too.
12.6%
operating margin
Operating margin → money left after running the business → HireQuest keeps about 13 cents of each sales dollar.
22.5x
trailing p/e
P/E → stock price compared with yearly profit → you are paying $22.50 for each $1 of trailing earnings.
6.1%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit from the money invested in the business → this is okay, not elite.
Financial health
B
strength
- balance sheet grade B — adequate — nothing special
- risk rank 4 — safer than 20% of stocks
- price stability 25 / 100
B — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for HQI right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
beat estimates
Was weird in the best way: revenue reached $24M and EPS hit $0.34.
That compares with $35M of revenue expected for the full year and shows how lumpy this business can look quarter to quarter. Quarterly EPS also rebounded hard from the -$0.16 printed in Q3 2024.
$9M
revenue
$0.34
eps
12.6%
operating margin
the number that mattered
$0.34 in quarterly EPS matters because it is more than the entire FY2024 EPS figure of $0.28 on its own.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is a continued slowdown in blue-collar temp staffing demand.
high
Labor demand stays weak
Staffing services produced $31.5M of revenue, or roughly 90% of the total. If employers keep pulling back on temporary hiring, almost the entire business feels it at once.
exposes roughly 90% of revenue to the hiring cycle
med
Franchisee execution slips
HQI runs through a 250+ branch franchise network. That keeps the model lighter, but it also means local execution is distributed across hundreds of operators you do not control from headquarters.
branch-level weakness can show up in systemwide revenue fast
med
The valuation assumes stabilization
A 22.5x trailing p/e is not cheap for a business whose revenue fell 8.7% and whose earnings predictability is just 30/100. If the top line keeps sliding, the multiple can compress even if profits stay positive.
multiple pressure can hit before fundamentals fully recover
low
Dividend becomes a secondary concern
The $0.06 quarterly dividend is manageable when cash flow is steady. In a prolonged downturn, protecting the operating business matters more than preserving a 2.2% yield.
small income support, but not enough to anchor the thesis
With staffing services at $31.5M, roughly 90% of revenue, a weak labor market hits almost the whole company at once.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
calendar
Q4 2025 earnings window
Estimated for mar 19–26, 2026. The first question is whether revenue deterioration starts easing.
trend
Staffing revenue direction
Staffing services are $31.5M and about 90% of sales. If that segment stabilizes, the whole story changes quickly.
risk
Margin versus slowdown
The company posted a 21.9% profit margin last year. Watch whether that holds if labor demand stays soft.
metric
MRINetwork actually showing up in the numbers
New initiatives begin in Q1 2026, but no segment revenue is disclosed here. Until that changes, treat it as a possible upside, not a base-case input.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
30 / 100
low predictability means the next few quarters can surprise in either direction. in human-speak, analysts do not view this as a steady eddy.
risk rank
4
risk rank 4 means this screens as riskier than most stocks. Said plainly: you should expect more wobble here than in a large-cap blue chip.
price stability
25 / 100
price stability is exactly what it sounds like. At 25/100, the stock has not earned the word stable.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for HQI is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$11
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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