Specialized talent solutions company Robert Half (NYSE: RHI) reported revenue ahead of Wall Street’s expectations in Q2 CY2026, but sales fell by 2.4% year on year to $1.34 billion. Its GAAP profit of $0.26 per share was in line with analysts’ consensus estimates.

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Company Overview

With roots dating back to 1948 as the first specialized recruiting firm for accounting and finance professionals, Robert Half (NYSE: RHI) provides specialized talent solutions and business consulting services, connecting skilled professionals with companies across various fields.

Revenue Growth

Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years.

With $5.29 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Robert Half is one of the larger companies in the business services industry and benefits from a well-known brand that influences purchasing decisions. However, its scale is a double-edged sword because finding new avenues for growth becomes difficult when you already have a substantial market presence. To accelerate sales, Robert Half likely needs to optimize its pricing or lean into new offerings and international expansion.

As you can see below, Robert Half struggled to increase demand as its $5.29 billion of sales for the trailing 12 months was close to its revenue five years ago. This shows demand was soft, a tough starting point for our analysis.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. Robert Half’s recent performance shows its demand remained suppressed as its revenue has declined by 6% annually over the last two years.

This quarter, Robert Half’s revenue fell by 2.4% year on year to $1.34 billion but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 1%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 2.1% over the next 12 months. While this projection indicates its newer products and services will fuel better top-line performance, it is still below the sector average.

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Adjusted Operating Margin

Robert Half was profitable over the last five years but held back by its large cost base. Its average adjusted operating margin of 7.8% was weak for a business services business.

Looking at the trend in its profitability, Robert Half’s adjusted operating margin decreased by 11.9 percentage points over the last five years. Robert Half’s performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows that costs were rising and it couldn’t pass them onto its customers.

In Q2, Robert Half generated an adjusted operating margin profit margin of negative 4.7%, down 9 percentage points year on year. This contraction shows it was less efficient because its expenses increased relative to its revenue.

Earnings Per Share

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth — for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Sadly for Robert Half, its EPS declined by 21.4% annually over the last five years while its revenue was flat. This tells us the company struggled because its fixed cost base made it difficult to adjust to choppy demand.

We can take a deeper look into Robert Half’s earnings to better understand the drivers of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Robert Half’s adjusted operating margin declined by 11.9 percentage points over the last five years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its lower earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

For Robert Half, its two-year annual EPS declines of 38.3% show it’s continued to underperform. These results were bad no matter how you slice the data.

In Q2, Robert Half reported EPS of $0.26, down from $0.41 in the same quarter last year. This print was close to analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Robert Half’s full-year EPS to grow 44.4% from $1.15 to $1.65.

Key Takeaways from Robert Half’s Q2 Results

Revenue and EPS were roughly in line. Operating margin declined pretty meaningfully year on year, with income from investments held in employee deferred compensation trusts providing a boost to net income. The market seemed to be hoping for more, and the stock traded down 5.3% to $35.88 immediately following the results.

So should you invest in Robert Half right now? What happened in the latest quarter matters, but not as much as longer-term business quality and valuation, when deciding whether to invest in this stock. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).