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 $239.2M against $24.1M — 9.9× the size. Circle8 Group, Inc. has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; HireQuest, Inc. trades at 29.2×. 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 29.22 23.57
P/S 0.02 7.88 0.28
P/B n/m 3.45 1.24
Price to free cash flow n/m 26.40 17.58
EV/EBITDA n/m 19.16 11.38
EV/Sales 0.39 7.84 0.34
Earnings yield (1,055.00%) 3.42% 0.15%
Free cash flow yield (143.78%) 3.79% 0.39%

Profitability

Metric CIRC HQI Staffing & Employment Services median
Gross margin 8.58% 100.00% 25.01%
Operating margin (7.80%) 28.44% 0.29%
Net margin (18.78%) 27.06% 0.04%
Free cash flow margin (2.91%) 31.32% 0.14%
Return on equity 682.76% 12.10% 2.93%
Return on assets (28.02%) 8.69% 0.07%
Return on invested capital (14.44%) 7.97% 0.32%

Growth

Metric CIRC HQI Staffing & Employment Services median
Revenue growth (TTM) 80.53% (7.53%) (2.94%)
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 70.65% 73.08% (21.61%)
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 321.02% 17.28% 1.03%
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 0.04
Current ratio 0.39 2.74 1.75
Net debt to EBITDA (0.74) (0.39) (0.08)

Dividend

Metric CIRC HQI Staffing & Employment Services median
Dividend yield — 1.39% 2.47%
Payout ratio — 0.42 0.50

Size

Metric CIRC HQI Staffing & Employment Services median
Market cap 24.09m 239.22m 461.40m

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