Hays (HAYPF) and Its Rivals Critical Review

Profitability

This table compares Hays and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hays	N/A	N/A	N/A
Hays Competitors	1.79%	22.52%	4.69%

Dividends

Hays pays an annual dividend of $0.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Hays pays out 39.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Professional Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.7% and pay out -171.4% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Hays and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Hays	N/A	N/A	11.34
Hays Competitors	$3.34 billion	$224.60 million	34.16

Hays’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Hays. Hays is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

36.8% of Hays shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.6% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 17.1% of shares of all “Professional Services” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Hays peers beat Hays on 8 of the 9 factors compared.

Hays Company Profile

Hays plc engages in the provision of recruitment services in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company provides qualified, professional, and skilled recruitment in permanent, temporary, and contractor formats to public and private sectors. It offers its recruitment services in the specialisms, such as accountancy and finance, banking and capital markets, construction and property, contact centers, education, energy, oil and gas, engineering and manufacturing, executive, financial services, health and social care, human resources, legal, life sciences, office support, procurement, resources and mining, retail, sales and marketing, sustainability, technology, and telecoms. Hays plc was founded in 1968 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.