Robert Half Profit Rises to $50 Million as Hiring Activity Improves
Key Facts
Robert Half's net profit rose to $50 million in the third quarter of 2026 from $43 million in the corresponding period of 2025, according to the company's earnings release. Earnings per share were $0.49, compared with $0.43 a year earlier, as earnings improved alongside the continued recovery in hiring activity described by management. The company said in its prepared earnings call remarks that this was the first year-on-year increase in quarterly earnings per share since 2022. Chief Executive Keith Waddell said "hiring activity continues to improve," attributing this to gradually improving market conditions. The increase in profit came as talent solutions revenue returned to year-on-year growth on an adjusted basis, while consulting revenue declined.
Total reported revenue was $1,359,297 thousand in the third quarter, compared with $1,354,477 thousand in the same period a year earlier, according to the official release. The company had forecast revenue of between $1.31 billion and $1.41 billion for the quarter, according to the second-quarter earnings call transcript published by Investing.com. Reported revenue therefore fell within the range management had set before the results. Earnings per share also fell within the company's previous guidance range of $0.43 to $0.53. For comparison with estimates published outside the company, Investing.com's earnings page showed an earnings-per-share estimate of $0.468 and a revenue estimate of $1.36 billion.
Within its staffing operations, contract talent solutions revenue rose to $758,830 thousand in the third quarter of 2026, according to the quarterly earnings tables. Revenue from the same business was $746,223 thousand in the third quarter of 2025, leaving it the company's largest reported segment by revenue. Permanent placement revenue also rose to $116,946 thousand from $110,125 thousand in the corresponding period a year earlier. Both contract staffing and permanent placement thus posted reported year-on-year increases. On an adjusted basis, management said in its prepared call remarks that talent solutions revenue returned to year-on-year growth, rising 2% during the quarter, alongside the gradual improvement in market conditions cited by Waddell.
In consulting, Protiviti's revenue fell to $483,521 thousand in the third quarter of 2026, according to Robert Half's release. The unit's revenue had been $498,129 thousand in the third quarter of 2025, moving in the opposite direction to the increases in the two staffing businesses. Management had discussed restructuring measures at Protiviti during the second-quarter earnings call, according to the transcript published by Investing.com. It said at the time that these measures were generating annual savings of $45 million. Management added that those savings had been fully incorporated into third-quarter guidance, the quarter for which the company has now reported results.
Against the backdrop of the U.S. labor market, a Labor Department release issued on October 22 showed seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims fell to 194,000 in the week ended October 17, 2026. Claims declined by 6,000 from the previous week, according to the department. The four-week moving average fell to 197,750 claims in the same week, a decline of 1,000. By contrast, the seasonally adjusted number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits rose to 1,728,000 in the week ended October 10. Continuing claims increased by 25,000 from the previous week, with the rise coinciding with a decline in initial claims in the latest reading for each measure.
For the fourth quarter of 2026, Robert Half set a revenue forecast range starting at $1.285 billion, according to its prepared earnings call remarks. The upper end of the range is $1.385 billion. The company expects earnings per share of between $0.36 and $0.46 for the same period. Both ends of the fourth-quarter earnings-per-share forecast range are below the earnings per share the company reported in the third quarter. The lower and upper ends of the new revenue guidance are also below the corresponding ends of the range management had set for the third quarter during the second-quarter earnings call.