Kelly Services (KELYA) Competitors

Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) and Kelly Services (NASDAQ:KELYA) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend BBSI or KELYA?

Barrett Business Services currently has a consensus target price of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 4.38%. Kelly Services has a consensus target price of $25.00, suggesting a potential upside of 103.25%. Given Kelly Services' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Kelly Services is more favorable than Barrett Business Services.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Barrett Business Services	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Kelly Services	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Is BBSI or KELYA a better dividend stock?

Barrett Business Services pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.7%. Kelly Services pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Barrett Business Services pays out 16.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kelly Services pays out -50.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Barrett Business Services has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Kelly Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in BBSI or KELYA?

86.8% of Barrett Business Services shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 76.3% of Kelly Services shares are held by institutional investors. 4.1% of Barrett Business Services shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 48.1% of Kelly Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is BBSI or KELYA more profitable?

Barrett Business Services has a net margin of 4.45% compared to Kelly Services' net margin of -0.46%. Barrett Business Services' return on equity of 24.55% beat Kelly Services' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Barrett Business Services	4.45%	24.55%	7.09%
Kelly Services	-0.46%	6.13%	2.93%

Does the media prefer BBSI or KELYA?

In the previous week, Kelly Services had 2 more articles in the media than Barrett Business Services. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Kelly Services and 2 mentions for Barrett Business Services. Barrett Business Services' average media sentiment score of 1.87 beat Kelly Services' score of 1.19 indicating that Barrett Business Services is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Barrett Business Services	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Kelly Services	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, BBSI or KELYA?

Barrett Business Services has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Kelly Services. Kelly Services is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Barrett Business Services, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Barrett Business Services	$1.14B	0.97	$52.99M	$1.95	22.11
Kelly Services	$4.33B	0.10	-$600K	-$0.60	-20.50

Which has more volatility and risk, BBSI or KELYA?

Barrett Business Services has a beta of 0.99, meaning that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kelly Services has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Barrett Business Services beats Kelly Services on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.