What Happened?
Shares of specialized talent solutions company Robert Half (NYSE: RHI) fell 7.3% in the afternoon session after the company reported second-quarter results that beat estimates but provided a weaker-than-expected outlook for the third quarter. The staffing and consulting firm projected third-quarter earnings per share between $0.37 and $0.47. The midpoint of this guidance fell approximately 26% below Wall Street expectations of $0.58, signaling that the tough hiring environment was expected to persist. While the company's second-quarter earnings of $0.41 per share and revenue of $1.37 billion slightly beat analyst estimates, this was overshadowed by the bleak outlook. The second-quarter revenue represented a 7% decline year-over-year, with the company's core Talent Solutions segment being the primary source of weakness. The disappointing forecast suggested to investors that no near-term turnaround was anticipated.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Robert Half? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Robert Half’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 9 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 3 months ago when the stock dropped 16.7% on the news that the company reported weak first-quarter 2025 results, which included significant misses on revenue, EPS, and EBITDA. Revenue fell to $1.35 billion, an 8.4% drop from the previous year, with significant declines across all contract staffing categories and only slight growth from Protiviti, its consulting unit. Overall, this was a weaker quarter.
Robert Half is down 42% since the beginning of the year, and at $39.73 per share, it is trading 48.3% below its 52-week high of $76.80 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Robert Half’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $753.41.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it should be obvious by now that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on how large corporations do business. While Nvidia and AMD are trading close to all-time highs, we prefer a lesser-known (but still profitable) semiconductor stock benefiting from the rise of AI. Click here to access our free report on our favorite semiconductor growth story.
