For those looking to find strong Business Services stocks, it is prudent to search for companies in the group that are outperforming their peers. Is HireQuest, Inc. (HQI) one of those stocks right now? Let's take a closer look at the stock's year-to-date performance to find out.
HireQuest, Inc. is a member of our Business Services group, which includes 248 different companies and currently sits at #10 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank considers 16 different sector groups. The average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups is measured, and the sectors are listed from best to worst.
The Zacks Rank is a successful stock-picking model that emphasizes earnings estimates and estimate revisions. The system highlights a number of different stocks that could be poised to outperform the broader market over the next one to three months. HireQuest, Inc. is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for HQI's full-year earnings has moved 53.8% higher. This is a sign of improving analyst sentiment and a positive earnings outlook trend.
According to our latest data, HQI has moved about 64.8% on a year-to-date basis. In comparison, Business Services companies have returned an average of -12.5%. This shows that HireQuest, Inc. is outperforming its peers so far this year.
Another stock in the Business Services sector, ScanSource (SCSC), has outperformed the sector so far this year. The stock's year-to-date return is 45.6%.
In ScanSource's case, the consensus EPS estimate for the current year increased 6.2% over the past three months. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Looking more specifically, HireQuest, Inc. belongs to the Staffing Firms industry, a group that includes 13 individual stocks and currently sits at #202 in the Zacks Industry Rank. This group has gained an average of 44.5% so far this year, so HQI is performing better in this area.
In contrast, ScanSource falls under the Technology Services industry. Currently, this industry has 122 stocks and is ranked #158. Since the beginning of the year, the industry has moved -13.4%.
Investors with an interest in Business Services stocks should continue to track HireQuest, Inc. and ScanSource. These stocks will be looking to continue their solid performance.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).