Barrett Business Services (BBSI) Competitors

Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) and Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, risk and analyst recommendations.

Does the media prefer KFY or BBSI?

In the previous week, Korn Ferry had 4 more articles in the media than Barrett Business Services. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Korn Ferry and 7 mentions for Barrett Business Services. Barrett Business Services' average media sentiment score of 1.08 beat Korn Ferry's score of 1.01 indicating that Barrett Business Services is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Korn Ferry	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Barrett Business Services	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend KFY or BBSI?

Korn Ferry currently has a consensus target price of $77.67, suggesting a potential upside of 10.77%. Barrett Business Services has a consensus target price of $45.00, suggesting a potential upside of 6.41%. Given Korn Ferry's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Korn Ferry is more favorable than Barrett Business Services.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Korn Ferry	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Barrett Business Services	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in KFY or BBSI?

Korn Ferry received 1 more outperform votes than Barrett Business Services when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 68.18% of users gave Barrett Business Services an outperform vote while only 55.18% of users gave Korn Ferry an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Korn Ferry	Outperform Votes 346 55.18%	Underperform Votes 281 44.82%
Barrett Business Services	Outperform Votes 345 68.18%	Underperform Votes 161 31.82%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, KFY or BBSI?

Korn Ferry has higher revenue and earnings than Barrett Business Services. Korn Ferry 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
Korn Ferry	$2.74B	1.32	$169.15M	$4.65	15.08
Barrett Business Services	$1.17B	0.93	$50.61M	$1.95	21.69

Is KFY or BBSI a better dividend stock?

Korn Ferry pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Barrett Business Services pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Korn Ferry pays out 41.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Barrett Business Services pays out 16.4% 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. Korn Ferry has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Barrett Business Services has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Korn Ferry is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in KFY or BBSI?

98.8% of Korn Ferry shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.8% of Barrett Business Services shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Korn Ferry shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.1% of Barrett Business Services shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is KFY or BBSI more profitable?

Korn Ferry has a net margin of 9.03% compared to Barrett Business Services' net margin of 4.55%. Barrett Business Services' return on equity of 25.28% beat Korn Ferry's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Korn Ferry	9.03%	14.27%	7.02%
Barrett Business Services	4.55%	25.28%	7.04%

Which has more risk and volatility, KFY or BBSI?

Korn Ferry has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barrett Business Services has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Korn Ferry beats Barrett Business Services on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.