Circle8 Group, Inc. (CIRC) vs HireQuest, Inc. (HQI)

Circle8 Group, Inc. and HireQuest, Inc. are both Staffing & Employment Services companies. HireQuest, Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $260.6M against $40.0M — 6.5× the size. Circle8 Group, Inc. has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; HireQuest, Inc. trades at 34.0×. Circle8 Group, Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 80.5% against −7.53%. HireQuest, Inc. has the higher net margin (27.1% vs −18.8%) and the higher return on invested capital (7.97% vs −14.4%). Across the 18 metrics below, HireQuest, Inc. leads on 11 and Circle8 Group, Inc. on 7.

Valuation

Metric CIRC HQI Staffing & Employment Services median
P/E n/m 33.97 24.32
P/S 0.03 9.16 0.41
P/B n/m 4.01 1.28
Price to free cash flow n/m 30.69 18.57
EV/EBITDA n/m 23.50 10.55
EV/Sales 0.40 9.61 0.40
Earnings yield (620.59%) 2.94% 0.99%
Free cash flow yield (84.57%) 3.26% 2.79%

Profitability

Metric CIRC HQI Staffing & Employment Services median
Gross margin 8.58% 100.00% 23.11%
Operating margin (7.80%) 28.44% 0.08%
Net margin (18.78%) 27.06% 0.23%
Free cash flow margin (2.91%) 31.32% 1.23%
Return on equity 682.76% 12.10% 2.31%
Return on assets (28.02%) 8.69% 0.00%
Return on invested capital (14.44%) 7.97% 0.00%

Growth

Metric CIRC HQI Staffing & Employment Services median
Revenue growth (TTM) 80.53% (7.53%) 0.69%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 70.65% 73.08% —
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 321.02% 17.28% 1.23%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 0.00% 3.38% 0.00%

Health

Metric CIRC HQI Staffing & Employment Services median
Debt to equity (12.33) 0.00 0.08
Current ratio 0.39 2.74 1.50
Net debt to EBITDA (0.74) (0.39) (0.22)

Dividend

Metric CIRC HQI Staffing & Employment Services median
Dividend yield — 1.87% 2.16%
Payout ratio — 0.30 0.30

Size

Metric CIRC HQI Staffing & Employment Services median
Market cap 40.04m 260.62m 590.17m

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