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HQHQI

HireQuest, Inc.

$HQI·$240M·Staffing & Employment Services·Industrials
$16.82-5.0%1Y+83.0%
Mentions · last 7 days
2026-08-06: 0 posts2026-08-07: 0 posts2026-08-08: 0 posts2026-08-09: 1 posts2026-08-10: 5 posts2026-08-11: 21 posts2026-08-12: 0 posts27+350%
Price updated 1h ago·X counts updated 2d ago
HQHQI
$HQIHireQuest, Inc.
$16.82-5.03%27 posts+350%
AI analysisFundamentalsVoices on X
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AI verdict & sentimentAI analysisGenerated by AI from underlying data

Top X posts

Today's AI verdict on what's driving $HQI, plus how loud the X conversation is and which way it's leaning.

AI analysis

TickerTalks’ read on the fundamentals and what’s driving the move.

Proven numbersAcceleratingAI verdict · as of 2026-08-13

The move is getting stronger, with heavier trading behind it.

HireQuest is a $240M staffing microcap that just beat Q2 by 77% — franchise model, four straight big beats

HQI is a $240M staffing-services franchise operator (HireQuest Direct + Snelling + DriverQuest + HireQuest Health + Northbound + MRI trade names) serving construction, recreation, food/hospitality, event, industrial, and clerical staffing. Q2 (Aug 10) crushed: $0.23 EPS vs $0.13 estimate (+77%) on $8.1M revenue; four consecutive beats of 18-77% — this is a company that repeatedly clears the sell-side bar.

  • The franchise model shows in the P&L: 73% gross margin (unusually high for staffing), 30% operating margin, 11% ROIC, 12% ROE, D/E 0 (unlevered), 4% FCF yield — this is essentially a royalty-collection business, not a traditional temp-labor operator
  • Revenue trajectory: Q2 +6% YoY was the first positive after three quarters of decline (-9% to -13%) — this suggests the staffing-cycle bottom may be behind, and the beats have been driven by cost discipline while awaiting the top-line recovery
  • Tape confirms the momentum: +27% above 50-day MA, +50% above 200-day, at 80% of 52-week range, tiny 5.2M-share float amplifies moves; only 1 analyst covering with FY26 revenue estimate $28M (which the Q2 print of $32M annualized is already tracking above)

The 'Can HireQuest Keep the Earnings Surprise Streak Alive?' framing captures the setup exactly — four in a row and counting. Nov 5 next print.

What to watch: Q3 revenue growth trajectory (needs to stay positive to confirm cycle bottom), any franchise-brand acquisitions (they've historically acquired brands to add to the platform), and the Nov 5 Q3 print for whether the sell-side FY26 estimate gets revised sharply higher.

On the calendar: Q3 2026 earnings, 2026-11-05

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What it does

Plain-English summary of the business — what they sell and how they make money.

Franchised light-industrial and commercial staffing company placing temporary workers via owner-operated local staffing branches in the US.

Industry overviewAI analysisGenerated by AI from underlying data

Where Staffing & Employment Services sits in its cycle right now — and what that implies for $HQI.

Staffing & Employment Services · Industrials

No material change from last week — Mastech Digital provides IT solutions and data analytics staffing as enterprises continue deploying AI and cloud infrastructure.

Industry benchmark

7-name peer basket
+29.9%YTD
+22.0%1Y

Fundamentals & catalyst

Profitability, valuation, and the next earnings event — at a glance, with rule-of-thumb signals.

Key ratios

P/E
29.6How much investors are paying per dollar of profit the company actually earned in the last 12 months. Lower means the stock looks cheaper relative to earnings.~15–25 is typical for the S&P 500; high-growth names trade 30+; hyper-growth or speculative can be 100+ or negative.
ROIC
11.2%What percentage return the business earns on every dollar of capital (equity + debt) deployed in operations. The cleanest measure of business quality.Above ~15% is high-quality; consistently above 25% suggests a real moat. Below the company's cost of capital is value-destroying.
Op margin
29.9%Operating profit (after sales, marketing, R&D, and overhead but before interest and taxes) as a percentage of revenue. The clearest view of how well the underlying business is run.Mature business above 20% is healthy; software businesses can run 30%+; commodity / retail businesses operate in single digits.
FCF yield
4.0%Free cash flow (operating cash flow minus capex) divided by the company's market cap. The cash-on-cash return you'd get owning the whole business at today's price.Above ~5% is attractive; below ~2% means you're paying up for growth. Capital-light businesses (software) run higher than capital-heavy ones (utilities).
P/S
7.9Same idea as P/E but per dollar of revenue. Useful for companies that aren't profitable yet, where P/E is meaningless.Under ~2 is cheap; software / SaaS often runs 8–15; well above 20 implies the market is pricing in very high future growth.
ROE
12.0%Net income as a percentage of shareholders' equity. Similar to ROIC but counts only the equity side.Above 20% is strong, but can be inflated by leverage — a heavily indebted company can show high ROE with weak underlying ROIC.
Gross margin
73.1%Revenue minus the direct cost of producing what was sold, as a percentage of revenue. The first read on whether the product is structurally profitable.Software / SaaS is typically 70%+; consumer goods 30–50%; commodity / hardware businesses can be under 20%.
D/E
0.0Total debt divided by shareholders' equity. Measures how much the business runs on borrowed money versus owner capital.Under 1 is conservative; 1–2 is typical for mature businesses; over 2 is leveraged and more sensitive to interest rates.

Past earnings

QuarterReportedActualEstimateSurprise
Q2 2026Aug 10, 2026$0.23$0.13+76.9%
Q1 2026May 12, 2026$0.13$0.11+18.2%
Q4 2025Mar 30, 2026$0.19$0.12+58.3%
Q3 2025Nov 6, 2025$0.24$0.14+71.4%
Next earningsThu, Nov 5·consensus EPS $0.16

Quarterly trend

QuarterRevenueYoYGrossOpEPSFCF
Q2 FY26$8.1M+6.0%0.0%41.3%$0.19$1.7M
Q1 FY26$6.5M-12.7%100%22.6%$0.11$250K
Q4 FY25$7.0M-13.0%100%25.0%$0.11$6.6M
Q3 FY25$8.5M-9.8%100%28.8%$0.17$1.0M

Forward consensus

5-year forecast · up to 1 analysts
FYRevenueRangeEPSRangeAnalysts
FY26$28.4M$28.1M – $28.7M$0.56$0.55 – $0.561
FY27$29.7M$29.4M – $30.0M$0.58$0.58 – $0.591
FY28$31.9M$31.5M – $32.3M$0.66$0.65 – $0.671
FY29$33.5M$33.1M – $33.9M$0.72$0.71 – $0.731
FY30$35.2M$34.8M – $35.6M$0.78$0.77 – $0.791

Setup & momentum

Volume, range, and moving-average position — the technical setup driving short-term moves.

Right now

Vol vs 30dToday's traded share volume divided by the average over the prior 30 trading days. ≥3× signals unusual interest; below 1× is quiet.3.8×Today's traded share volume divided by the average over the prior 30 trading days. ≥3× signals unusual interest; below 1× is quiet.
52w rangeWhere the latest close sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Above 80% is extended; below 30% is basing or in a downtrend.89%Where the latest close sits between the 52-week low (0%) and high (100%). Above 80% is extended; below 30% is basing or in a downtrend.
vs 50d MALatest close vs the 50-day simple moving average. Positive = short-term trend is up.+34.5%Latest close vs the 50-day simple moving average. Positive = short-term trend is up.
vs 200d MALatest close vs the 200-day simple moving average. Positive = long-term trend is up.+59.3%Latest close vs the 200-day simple moving average. Positive = long-term trend is up.

Float & profile

FloatTiny float · 5.2M shFree-float shares — the slice of issued stock actually available to trade. Lower buckets squeeze harder on a catalyst.Traded today1.2% of floatToday's volume as a percent of the free float. Above 5% on a single day is unusually high turnover for the available share count.

Insider activity

Recent open-market buys and sells by officers and directors — flagged when multiple insiders cluster.

Recent transactions

BuyJun 3Richard HermannsCEO1.1K sh$14K
+ 9 other (8 awards · 1 gift) in window

See when $HQI insiders are putting their own money in

  • Real-time open-market buys and sells from Form 4 filings
  • Cluster-buy detection when multiple insiders pile in at once
  • 30 / 60 / 180-day windows so you can spot building conviction
Free, forever. No credit card.

SEC filings

Material 8-K, 13D, S-3, and 424B5 events from the last 180 days — the filings that actually move the price.

Recent material filings

8-KShareholder voteJun 228-K — Item 5.07: Shareholder vote
AI summary

HireQuest (HQI) held its 2026 Annual Meeting on June 18, 2026. Shareholders voted to elect all six director nominees for one-year terms and to ratify Forvis Mazars, LLP as independent auditor. Additional proposal details and vote tallies are in the full filing.

8-KPress release / Reg FDMay 128-K — Item 7.01: Press release / Reg FD
8-KPress release / Reg FDMay 88-K — Item 7.01: Press release / Reg FD
8-KOfficer or director changeMar 68-K — Item 5.02: Officer or director change
8-KPress release / Reg FDFeb 178-K — Item 7.01: Press release / Reg FD
+ 7 other (3 earnings 8-Ks · 2 10-Qs · 1 proxy · 1 10-K) in window

Recent news

Latest headlines from major outlets, sourced and timestamped — context for whatever just moved.

HireQuest, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividendprnewswire.com·1d agoHireQuest, Inc. (HQI) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcriptseekingalpha.com·4d agoHireQuest Q2 Earnings Call Highlightsmarketbeat.com·4d agoHireQuest, Inc. (HQI) Tops Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimateszacks.com·4d agoHireQuest Reports Financial Results for Second Quarter 2026prnewswire.com·4d ago

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Voices on X · top 3 · last 7 days

TickerTalks is a research tool, not financial advice. We surface social-attention data; we do not make stock recommendations. Past attention is not predictive of future price movements.

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