HireQuest (HQI) Competitors

Startek (NYSE:SRT) and HireQuest (NASDAQ:HQI) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, valuation, risk, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment and institutional ownership.

Which has more volatility & risk, SRT or HQI?

Startek has a beta of 1.32, indicating that its share price is 32% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, HireQuest has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is SRT or HQI more profitable?

HireQuest has a net margin of 14.27% compared to Startek's net margin of -5.81%. Startek's return on equity of 12.22% beat HireQuest's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Startek	-5.81%	12.22%	5.36%
HireQuest	14.27%	9.15%	5.52%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in SRT or HQI?

13.0% of Startek shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 12.0% of HireQuest shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.1% of Startek shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 45.8% of HireQuest shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has better valuation & earnings, SRT or HQI?

HireQuest has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Startek. Startek is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than HireQuest, 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
Startek	$385.07M	0.46	-$2.26M	-$0.53	-8.34
HireQuest	$36.13M	5.22	$6.14M	$0.38	35.42

Does the MarketBeat Community favor SRT or HQI?

Startek received 376 more outperform votes than HireQuest when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.24% of users gave Startek an outperform vote while only 66.67% of users gave HireQuest an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Startek	Outperform Votes 390 67.24%	Underperform Votes 190 32.76%
HireQuest	Outperform Votes 14 66.67%	Underperform Votes 7 33.33%

Do analysts rate SRT or HQI?

HireQuest has a consensus price target of $18.00, suggesting a potential upside of 33.73%. Given HireQuest's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe HireQuest is more favorable than Startek.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Startek	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
HireQuest	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media refer more to SRT or HQI?

In the previous week, HireQuest had 3 more articles in the media than Startek. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for HireQuest and 0 mentions for Startek. HireQuest's average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Startek's score of 0.00 indicating that HireQuest is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Startek	Neutral
HireQuest	Positive

Summary

HireQuest beats Startek on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.