Q2 2026 Hirequest Inc Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- HireQuest Inc (HQI) reported a 6% year-over-year increase in total revenue for Q2 2026, marking the first growth since Q3 2024, with pro forma growth of 16.6% excluding divested MRI assets.
- The company saw a significant improvement in profitability, with net income rising to $2.7 million ($0.19 per diluted share) from $1.1 million ($0.08) in the prior year, and adjusted EBITDA up to $4.6 million from $3.3 million.
- Franchise royalties grew 4.1% year-over-year, and pro forma for the divestiture, they increased 13.8%, driven by strong performance in manufacturing and national accounts.
- The company benefited from favorable immigration policies enacted in early 2025, which helped expand the labor supply and boost demand for temporary staffing services.
- HireQuest Inc (HQI) maintained a strong balance sheet with no debt, $41 million in credit availability, and continued paying its regular quarterly dividend, demonstrating financial stability.
- System-wide sales declined 6.4% year-over-year to $117.8 million, and even pro forma for the MRI divestiture, growth was only 6.9%, indicating a slower recovery in overall sales.
- The company faces ongoing unfavorable year-over-year comparisons due to the MRI network divestiture, which will continue to impact reported results until December.
- The market recovery is still in early stages, with management noting that the industry has a long way to go before returning to previous levels, and there is uncertainty about Q4 and beyond.
- SG&A expenses, while lower, were partly reduced by one-time factors such as legal fees from the TrueBlue takeover attempt, which may not be sustainable as a cost-saving measure.
- The company's growth is heavily dependent on macro factors like immigration policies and economic conditions, which could reverse and negatively impact demand for staffing services.
Good afternoon, and welcome to the HireQuest Inc. second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Jen Belodeau from IMS Investor Relations. Jen, the floor is yours.
Thank you. I'd like to welcome everybody to the call today. Hosting the call are HireQuest's CEO, Rick Hermanns; and CFO, David Hartley. I'll now take a moment to read the safe harbor statement. This conference call contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended.
These forward-looking statements in terms such as anticipate, expect, intend, may, will, should or other comparable terms involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Higher Quest and members of its
| Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | |
| 30-Year Financial on one screen | |
| All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | |
| Customizable Stock Dashboard | |
| Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | |
| 8,000+ Institutional investors’ 13F holdings | |
| Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | |
| All data downloadable | |
| Quick customer support | |
| And much more... |
Trustpilot
We'd love to learn more about your experiences on GuruFocus.com and how we can improve!
Take Survey
