Robert Half (RHI) To Report Q3 Earnings: What's In Store?

Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE:RHI) is scheduled to report third-quarter 2019 results on Oct 23, after market close.

So far this year, shares of the company have declined 3.7% against 4% growth of the industry and 18.2% of the Zacks S&P 500 Composite.

Let’s check the expectations in detail.

Revenues Likely to Benefit From Segmental Performance

Strength across all segments — Temporary and Consultant Staffing, Permanent Placement Staffing, and Risk Consulting and Internal Audit Services — is likely to have benefited Robert Half’s third-quarter 2019 revenues. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter revenues is pegged at $1.55 billion, indicating growth of 5.8% year over year. Notably, the consensus mark falls within the company’s guided range of $1.525-$1.590 billion. In second-quarter 2019, total revenues of $1.52 billion grew 4.1% year over year.

Segment-wise, increase in average hourly bill rates and the number of hours worked by the company’s temporary employees on client engagements might have benefited the Temporary and Consultant Staffing segment in the third quarter. The Permanent Placement Staffing segment is likely to have performed well on the back of growing number of placements and average fees per placement. Risk Consulting and Internal Audit Services segment revenues are likely to have benefited from an increase in billable hours worked by consultants on client engagements and average hourly bill rates.

Solid demand for the company’s staffing and Protiviti services was observed during the second quarter, a trend that most likely continued in the third quarter as well.

Bottom Line to Improve Year Over Year

Improved operational efficiency is likely to have boosted Robert Half’s third-quarter 2019 earnings, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for which is pegged at $1.01 per share, indicating year-over-year growth of 6.3%. Notably, the consensus mark lies within the company’s guided range of 98 cents to $1.04. In second-quarter 2019, earnings of 98 cents per share increased 10% year over year.

What Our Model Says

Our proven Zacks model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Robert Half this season. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But that’s not the case here. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they're reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Robert Half has an Earnings ESP of -0.50% and a Zacks Rank #3.

Stocks to Consider

Here are a few stocks from the broader Zacks Business Services sector that investors may consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to beat on third-quarter 2019 earnings:

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) has an Earnings ESP of +1.72% and a Zacks Rank #2. The company is slated to report results on Oct 29. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) has an Earnings ESP of +1.13% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is slated to release results on Oct 22.

Verisk (NASDAQ:VRSK) has an Earnings ESP of +2.22% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is slated to report results on Oct 29.

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