Kforce Third-Quarter Results Beat Estimates With EPS of $0.90
Key Facts
The company said in a filing published via Business Wire that earnings per share rose 23.3% from the second quarter and 42.9% year over year. Revenue in the previous quarter was $349.3 million, up 4.5% year over year, according to the company’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Chief Executive Joseph Liberatore said the results reflected “continued momentum building that began in the second half of 2025,” with Technology business growing about 8% year over year.
Earnings per share included a $0.12 gain from company-owned life insurance policies, showing that the item contributed to higher reported earnings during the quarter. Kforce said the policy gain improved selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenue by 60 basis points. Operating margin was also 6.3%, up 180 basis points year over year and 90 basis points from the previous quarter. The company said the policy gain also benefited operating margin by 60 basis points. These figures put the increase in profitability in the context of improving operations, alongside the specific effect of the insurance gain on results.
The company’s gross margin was 28.2%, up 50 basis points from the same period a year earlier, but down 30 basis points from the second quarter. Gross margin for Flex operations was 26.8%, up 50 basis points year over year and down 10 basis points sequentially. On revenue, Technology Flex rose 7.8% year over year and 2.5% from the previous quarter. FA Flex revenue increased 4.6% year over year and 5.5% sequentially. The comparison between the two segments shows that Technology Flex had faster annual growth, while FA Flex posted a larger quarterly increase.
The company returned $6.7 million to shareholders through dividends during the third quarter. The board approved a fourth-quarter cash dividend of $0.40 per share. The dividend is payable to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 4, 2026, and will be paid on December 18. The dividend announcement comes alongside the operating results and financial guidance for the coming period. In the second quarter, the company had reported diluted earnings per share of $0.73, up 23.7% year over year.
Kforce expects revenue of between $352 million and $360 million in the fourth quarter of 2026, and earnings per share of between $0.62 and $0.70. The guidance is based on 62 billing days, compared with 64 days in each of the third quarter of 2026 and the fourth quarter of 2025. The company’s revenue guidance range for the third quarter, provided in its second-quarter filing, was between $349 million and $357 million, before actual revenue topped the high end of that range. The company scheduled a conference call to discuss third-quarter results for October 26, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. KFRC shares closed at $58.50 on October 23, after closing at $53.66 on October 22 and $51.40 on October 21, according to EL7 data.