Hudson Global Posts 6.5 Percent Revenue Gain
November 6, 2017 – Talent Solutions company Hudson Global Inc. / (NASDAQ:HSON) posted third quarter revenues of $118.1 million, up 6.5 percent in constant currency from a year ago.
By region, Hudson Asia Pacific led the way, recording a revenue gain of 18.4 percent while Hudson America and Europe had revenues losses of 2.9 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively.
The New York-based recruiting organization posted a net loss of $.8 million, or three cents per basic and diluted share, compared with a net loss of $1.9 million, or six cents per basic and diluted share, for the third quarter of 2016.
“We delivered solid gross margin growth in the third quarter, with growth in permanent recruitment, RPO and talent management,” said Stephen Nolan, chief executive officer at Hudson. “We are pleased to report positive adjusted EBITDA for the fifth consecutive quarter as well as positive cash flow from operations.”
Robert Half Posts Flat Revenues, Falling Short of Expectations
Robert Half International Inc. / (NYSE:RHI) posted third quarter revenues of $1.32 billion, a one percent decrease from revenues of $1.34 billion during the same quarter last year. This missed Wall Street expectations of $1.33 billion.
Share Repurchase Program
During the third quarter, the company continued its share repurchase program which has an authorization of up to $10 million of the company’s common stock. The company purchased 125,770 shares for $.2 million as part of the repurchase program during the third quarter. Since the inception of this program in the third quarter of 2015 through the end of the third quarter of 2017, the company has purchased 3,532,761 shares for $7.2 million.
Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Hudson Global from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating. In addition, major shareholder Sagard Capital Partners, L.P. sold 1.1 million shares of the stock in a recent transaction. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.80, for a total value of $1.98 million. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Currently, just 12.2 percent of the stock is owned by company insiders.
ManpowerGroup Records Seven Percent Q3 Revenue Gain; U.S. Down 8.8 Percent
ManpowerGroup / (NYSE:MAN) posted revenues of $5.5 billion, an increase of seven percent, compared to revenues of $5.1 billion a year ago. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research expected $5.39 billion.
Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in Hudson. Renaissance Technologies boosted its position in the company by 14.8 percent since the start of the year. Renaissance now owns 248,096 shares, valued at $588,000 after buying an additional 31,996 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management raised its holdings in Hudson Global by 2.3 percent. Geode now owns 95,731 shares, valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 2,119 shares during the period. And Frontier Investment Management Co. increased its position by .8 percent in the second quarter. Frontier now owns 521,901 shares valued at $1,028,000 after buying an additional 4,269 shares during the period. Institutional investors currently own just under 75 percent of the company’s stock.
Outlook
Given current economic conditions, Hudson forecast fourth quarter revenue of between $110 million and $120 million, a year-over-year increase of between 9.7 percent and 19.6 percent.
Shares in Hudson fell 3.3 percent to $1.45 upon release of its earnings. The company has a market cap of $45.5 million, according to Yahoo.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Will Schatz, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
