Kelly Services (KELYA) Competitors

Kelly Services (NASDAQ:KELYA) and Barrett Business Services (NASDAQ:BBSI) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, community ranking, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends and risk.

Which has more volatility and risk, KELYA or BBSI?

Kelly Services has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Barrett Business Services has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer KELYA or BBSI?

Barrett Business Services received 121 more outperform votes than Kelly Services when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.18% of users gave Barrett Business Services an outperform vote while only 56.28% of users gave Kelly Services an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Kelly Services	Outperform Votes 224 56.28%	Underperform Votes 174 43.72%
Barrett Business Services	Outperform Votes 345 68.18%	Underperform Votes 161 31.82%

Does the media refer more to KELYA or BBSI?

In the previous week, Kelly Services had 5 more articles in the media than Barrett Business Services. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Kelly Services and 8 mentions for Barrett Business Services. Barrett Business Services' average media sentiment score of 0.78 beat Kelly Services' score of 0.42 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
Kelly Services	8 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Barrett Business Services	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate KELYA or BBSI?

Kelly Services currently has a consensus price target of $25.00, suggesting a potential upside of 110.79%. Barrett Business Services has a consensus price target of $41.67, suggesting a potential upside of 0.16%. Given Kelly Services' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Kelly Services is more favorable than Barrett Business Services.

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

Do institutionals and insiders believe in KELYA or BBSI?

76.3% of Kelly Services shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.8% of Barrett Business Services shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.9% of Kelly Services shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.7% of Barrett Business Services shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is KELYA or BBSI a better dividend stock?

Kelly Services pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Barrett Business Services pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Kelly Services pays out -50.0% 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. Barrett Business Services has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Kelly Services is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is KELYA or BBSI more profitable?

Barrett Business Services has a net margin of 4.55% compared to Kelly Services' net margin of -0.01%. Barrett Business Services' return on equity of 25.28% beat Kelly Services' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Kelly Services	-0.01%	6.56%	3.22%
Barrett Business Services	4.55%	25.28%	7.04%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, KELYA or BBSI?

Barrett Business Services has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Kelly Services. Kelly Services 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
Kelly Services	$4.45B	0.09	-$600K	-$0.60	-19.77
Barrett Business Services	$1.17B	0.91	$50.61M	$1.95	21.33

Summary

Barrett Business Services beats Kelly Services on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.