Talent Solutions revenue rose 2% on an adjusted basis while the Protiviti consulting arm shrank. Total revenue was flat and earnings beat by 2 cents. Management expects Protiviti to return to growth this quarter.
For staffing investors who have waited more than three years for a turn, Robert Half offered one number: 2%.
Revenue in Talent Solutions, the company's temporary and permanent staffing business, rose 2% from a year earlier on an adjusted basis, its first growth since 2022, Chief Executive M. Keith Waddell said. U.S. Talent Solutions revenue rose 3% to $670 million.
The rest of the business did not cooperate. Protiviti, the consulting unit, posted revenue of $483.5 million, down 2.9% on a reported basis and 3.3% after adjusting for currency and billing days. U.S. Protiviti revenue fell about 5%.
Total revenue was $1.359 billion, up 0.4% as reported and down 0.2% on an adjusted basis. Net income was $50 million, or 49 cents a share, up from 43 cents a year earlier and above the 47 cents analysts expected.
The guidance
Robert Half expects fourth-quarter revenue of $1.285 billion to $1.385 billion, a midpoint of $1.335 billion that would be up 3% from a year earlier on an adjusted basis. It expects earnings of 36 to 46 cents a share. Management said it expects Protiviti to return to growth in the fourth quarter, and that restructuring will save about $11 million a quarter in payroll costs.
The reaction
Shares had risen about 8.8% in premarket trading and kept climbing, reaching $46.07 by early afternoon, up 22.3% from Thursday's close of $37.68 and near their 52-week high of $46.70. The move widened through the session.
Why a small number moved a stock this much
Robert Half's stock has been priced for a white-collar hiring slump that kept getting longer. A return to growth in the core staffing business, even a modest one, challenges that assumption, and the guide implies growth again next quarter.
The case for caution is in the comparison. A 2% gain comes against a weak year-earlier quarter, total revenue was still flat, and Protiviti is still shrinking. The fourth-quarter guidance relies on a consulting recovery that has not yet appeared, and questions about how artificial intelligence changes demand for office staff remain open.
What to watch
Protiviti's fourth-quarter growth against management's expectation, U.S. white-collar job data, and whether peers that report in coming weeks see the same turn in staffing demand.