Reviewing Heidrick & Struggles International (NASDAQ:HSII) & Hays (OTCMKTS:HAYPF)

Heidrick & Struggles International (NASDAQ:HSII) and Hays (OTCMKTS:HAYPF) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends, earnings, profitability and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Heidrick & Struggles International and Hays’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Heidrick & Struggles International	6.07%	16.33%	6.54%
Hays	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Heidrick & Struggles International pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Hays pays an annual dividend of $0.03 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Heidrick & Struggles International pays out 20.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hays pays out 39.4% 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. Heidrick & Struggles International is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Heidrick & Struggles International and Hays, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Heidrick & Struggles International	0	0	1	0	3.00
Hays	0	0	0	0	N/A

Heidrick & Struggles International presently has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 46.90%. Given Heidrick & Struggles International’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Heidrick & Struggles International is more favorable than Hays.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Heidrick & Struggles International and Hays’ revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Heidrick & Struggles International	$1.08 billion	0.50	$79.49 million	$3.00	9.08
Hays	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.06	21.29

Heidrick & Struggles International has higher revenue and earnings than Hays. Heidrick & Struggles International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hays, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.9% of Heidrick & Struggles International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 36.8% of Hays shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Heidrick & Struggles International shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Heidrick & Struggles International beats Hays on 11 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Heidrick & Struggles International

Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides executive search, consulting, and on-demand talent services to businesses and business leaders worldwide. It enables its clients to build leadership teams by facilitating the recruitment, management, and development of senior executives. The company also offers on-demand services to provide clients with independent talent, including professionals with industry and functional expertise for interim leadership roles and critical project-based initiatives; and consulting services, including leadership assessment and development, team and organization acceleration, digital acceleration and innovation, diversity and inclusion advisory services, and culture shaping services. It provides its services to Fortune 1000 companies; Major U.S. and non-U.S. companies; middle market and emerging growth companies; private equity firms; governmental, higher education, and not-for-profit organizations; and other private and public entities. The company was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Hays

Hays plc operates as a recruitment company in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company offers permanent, temporary, and contractor recruitment services, such as qualified, professional, and skilled recruitment to public and private sectors. It also specializes in offering recruitment services in the areas of accountancy and finance, construction and property, technology, life sciences, sales and marketing, banking and capital markets, contact centers, education, engineering and manufacturing, executive, financial services, health and social care, human resources, legal, office support, energy, oil and gas, procurement, retail, resources and mining, and telecoms. Hays plc was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.