Staffing company Robert Half soars as Wall Street bets on a 'strong comeback'

Staffing company Robert Half’s stock surged almost 22% on Friday to mark a 17-month high. Even though the company’s revenue barely changed year over year in the third quarter, Wall Street “loves” the prospects for its Protiviti subsidiary following a recent wave of government fines against major banks. Protiviti is a consulting company that provides banks with risk management, compliance, and internal audit services.

Robert Half shares jumped almost 22% on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday to $45.87 apiece, their best close since May 2025. The company reported third-quarter revenue of $1.36 billion, an increase of less than 0.5% year over year. Even that represents an achievement, though: U.S. Labor Department data for September shows that the employment services industry lost around 14,000 jobs, Barron’s notes.

Net income rose 16% to $50 million in the same period, while diluted earnings per share increased 14% to $0.49. It was the first quarterly increase in earnings per share year over year since 2022. Robert Half’s results slightly exceeded analyst expectations, Barron’s writes. But those figures alone would hardly explain the stock’s sharp rally, Motley Fool contributing analyst Anders Bylund notes. Wall Street is betting on a “strong comeback” for the company, driven primarily by its Protiviti subsidiary, he believes.

Over the last 90 days, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed substantial fines on several major banks, signaling that anti-money laundering compliance remains a top priority linked to national security, Robert Half CEO Keith Waddell said on the earnings call. These enforcement actions require extensive work, including historical lookbacks and significant increases in transaction and file reviews. Protiviti works with more than 80% of the world’s largest financial institutions, but its market share is substantially smaller than that of the Big Four, leaving room for growth, Waddell added.

Increasing demand for anti-money laundering remediation services has the management expecting Protiviti to return to revenue growth in the fourth quarter. Its third-quarter revenue was $483 million, down around 3% year over year on an adjusted basis, excluding the effects of currency movements and differences in billing days. Such projects are expected to last at least several quarters, and some similar assignments Protiviti has handled in the past have lasted years, Waddell said. The midpoint of the management’s fourth-quarter guidance assumes 2% year-over-year growth in Protiviti revenue on the same adjusted basis.

The trend also benefits Robert Half’s Talent Solutions division, which places temporary and permanent staff, since some of the work is performed by professionals it supplies, Waddell noted. Talent Solutions revenue increased 2% year over year in the third quarter on an adjusted basis, excluding currency and billing-day effects, returning to growth for the first time since 2022.

For the current quarter, Robert Half’s management forecasts consolidated revenue of $1.29-1.39 billion and earnings per share of $0.36-0.46.

“Recovery is clearly underway,” Baird analyst Marc Marcon wrote, as quoted by Barron’s, noting that Robert Half’s clients remain focused on tech modernization, cybersecurity, and IT infrastructure.

Wall Street is split on the stock’s prospects: five analysts rate it "sell," four have "buy" calls, and another four say "hold." The average target price is $39.60 per share, below the stock’s price following Friday’s rally.