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what it is
Kelly Services finds workers for companies and runs staffing, payroll, and recruiting services.
how it gets paid
Last year Kelly Services made $4.3B in revenue. Professional & Industrial was the main engine at $1.63B, or 38% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 1.9% last year. The number that mattered was $3.2B. One quarter almost matched the full-year $4.3B revenue base.
what just happened
Kelly posted $3.2B in quarterly revenue while EPS was -$3.56.
At a glance
B balance sheet — gets the job done, barely
10/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
14.6x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
3.5% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
0.3% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 46/100 — below average
What they do
Kelly Services finds workers for companies and runs staffing, payroll, and recruiting services.
Kelly runs 5 operating segments across staffing and outsourcing. You do not rip out a vendor that already touches hiring, payroll, and recruiting. It has 5,570 employees doing that work.
How they make money
$4.3B
annual revenue · their business grew -1.9% last year
Professional & Industrial
$1.63B
Science, Engineering & Technology
$0.95B
Outsourcing & Consulting
$0.65B
International
$0.65B
Education
$0.43B
The products that matter
specialized technical staffing
Kelly Science, Engineering, Tech & Telecom
$1.3B · 30% of segment mix
This is a $1.3B business line and the company just hired a new president for it in March 2026. If management can restart growth anywhere, it probably has to start here.
new leadership
managed hiring solutions
Outcome-Based Solutions & RPO
inside a $4.3B company
Kelly positions this as a more solutions-heavy offering, but this snapshot does not break out separate revenue. That matters because a company losing $254.1M needs you to know where the better economics actually live.
detail is thin
broad staffing services
Enterprise Talent Management
$1.8B · 42% of segment mix
This $1.8B segment is the largest piece of the business. When the company says revenue fell 9.9% from last year, this is the kind of scale that can drag the whole story with it.
largest segment
Key numbers
$4.3B
annual revenue
That is the size of the machine. A company this big with a 2.8% operating margin is doing a lot of work for very little profit.
3.5%
dividend yield
You are getting paid to wait. The catch is that the business only earned a 0.3% return on capital.
0.3%
return on capital
This says the core business barely clears the starting line. It is a thin engine, even by staffing standards.
$147M
long-term debt
That debt load is not crushing, but it is real for a $264M company. Small caps feel financing stress faster than large ones.
Financial health
B
strength
- balance sheet grade B — adequate — nothing special
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 45 / 100
- long-term debt $147M (36% of capital)
B — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for KELYA right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Kelly posted $3.2B in quarterly revenue while EPS was -$3.56.
Revenue jumped 242% vs. prior year, and gross margin was 20.5%. The headline was huge sales with ugly earnings, which is very on-brand for a thin-margin staffing shop.
$1.1B
revenue
-$3.56
eps
20.5%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The number that mattered was $3.2B. One quarter almost matched the full-year $4.3B revenue base, which tells you how noisy the comparison period was.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
The #1 risk is staffing margin compression inside Kelly's core placement business.
med
gross margin keeps sliding
Q4 gross margin fell 150 basis points to 18.8%. That sounds small until you remember the company already lost $254.1M last year on $4.3B of revenue.
Another similar move would keep pressure on a business already running at a -5.98% net margin.
med
the turnaround hire does not turn
Kelly hired a new president for the $1.3B Science, Engineering, Tech & Telecom unit in March 2026. Leadership change is easy. Revenue recovery is the hard part.
If this segment stays soft, the company loses one of its clearest shots at mix improvement.
med
hiring demand stays weak in the biggest end markets
Education and Science, Engineering, Tech & Telecom together account for $2.5B of segment revenue. If schools, tech clients, or telecom customers keep hiring cautiously, volume does not bail out the margin story.
That would leave the company exposed to both lower placements and weaker pricing at the same time.
med
capital returns start fighting the balance sheet
The dividend yields 3.5%, costs about $9M annually, and sits next to a $50M buyback authorization that runs through Dec 2, 2026. Those are shareholder-friendly tools in a year that was not shareholder-friendly.
If losses persist, money sent out the door is money not used to stabilize operations.
A 150-basis-point drop in gross margin was enough to turn $4.3B of revenue into a $254.1M annual loss. That is not a theoretical risk. It already happened.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
earnings
Q1 2026 earnings report
Scheduled for May 14, 2026. The number that matters is gross margin. If it stays below 19%, the turnaround pitch gets thinner fast.
trend
revenue decline rate
Full-year revenue fell 9.9% from last year. You want to see that decline narrow, not become the new baseline.
capital
dividend and buyback discipline
A 3.5% dividend yield and a $50M buyback authorization look generous. They also look different when the business just lost $254.1M.
execution
new SETT president impact
Joel Leege started March 16, 2026. If the $1.3B technical staffing unit cannot stabilize, the rest of the story has less room to improve.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
10 / 100
In human-speak, analysts do not trust this earnings line to stay consistent.
risk rank
3
Middle-of-the-pack safety. Not a distress case, not a comfort stock.
price stability
45 / 100
The stock has been less stable than a high-quality compounder, but this is still more about business execution than meme-level volatility.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for KELYA is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$9
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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