Shares of Kelly Services Inc. KELYA rose 2.3% in premarket trading Thursday, after the staffing services company reported first-quarter adjusted profit and revenue that fell less than expectations, citing strength in its education business. The company swung to net income of $10.9 million, or 29 cents a share, from a loss of $47.6 million, or $1.23 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, such a restructuring charges and a loss last year on the sale of Kelly’s investment in Persol Holdings, adjusted earnings per share fell to 40 cents from 44 cents, but beat the FactSet consensus of 30 cents. Revenue fell 2.2% to $1.27 billion, but was above the FactSet consensus of $1.23 billion. “Taking into account well recognized macroeconomic headwinds, we delivered solid results as our specialty solutions proved more resilient than others,” said Chief Executive Officer Peter Quiqley. “Our Education segment and our more profitable outcome-based solutions in both P&I [Professional & Industrial] and SET [Scientific, Engineering and Technology] continued to deliver solid growth, while, as expected, our staffing businesses faced decreased demand in this environment.” The stock has lost 3.2% year to date through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 7.8%.
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