Contrasting HAYS (OTCMKTS:HAYPY) & Resources Connection (NASDAQ:RGP)

HAYS (OTCMKTS:HAYPY) and Resources Connection (NASDAQ:RGP) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for HAYS and Resources Connection, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HAYS	0	0	0	1	4.00
Resources Connection	1	0	0	0	1.00

Resources Connection has a consensus price target of $5.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.15%. Given Resources Connection’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Resources Connection is more favorable than HAYS.

Profitability

This table compares HAYS and Resources Connection’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HAYS	N/A	N/A	N/A
Resources Connection	-34.78%	0.31%	0.23%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.2% of Resources Connection shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.4% of Resources Connection shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

HAYS pays an annual dividend of $0.19 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Resources Connection pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Resources Connection pays out -4.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares HAYS and Resources Connection”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HAYS	$8.55 billion	0.15	-$10.09 million	N/A	N/A
Resources Connection	$551.33 million	0.31	-$191.78 million	($5.82)	-0.88

HAYS has higher revenue and earnings than Resources Connection.

Risk and Volatility

HAYS has a beta of 0.44, meaning that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Resources Connection has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Resources Connection beats HAYS on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About HAYS

Hays plc engages in the provision of recruitment services in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and internationally. The company provides qualified, professional, and skilled recruitment in permanent, temporary, and contractor formats to public and private sectors. It offers its recruitment services in the specialisms, such as technology, accountancy and finance, engineering, construction and property, office support, life sciences, sales and marketing, and others. Hays plc was founded in 1968 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

About Resources Connection

Resources Connection, Inc. provides consulting services to business customers under the Resources Global Professionals name in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company offers services in the areas of transactions, including integration and divestitures, bankruptcy/restructuring, going public readiness and support, financial process optimization, and system implementation; and regulations, such as accounting regulations, internal audit and compliance, data privacy and security, healthcare compliance, and regulatory compliance. It provides transformations services comprising finance transformation, digital transformation, supply chain management, cloud migration, and data design and analytics. The company was formerly known as RC Transaction Corp. and changed its name to Resources Connection, Inc. in August 2000. Resources Connection, Inc. was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Irvine, California.