Kelly Services

Kelly Services is the United States workforce-solutions pioneer (the Kelly Girls of 1946 essentially invented temporary staffing). Today it runs three segments: Enterprise Talent Management (broad temporary/permanent placement), Science Engineering and Technology (specialty staffing for life sciences, semis, energy clients), and Education (substitute teachers and educators in K-12 districts). Revenue 4.1 billion USD, with science-engineering and education growing while the legacy enterprise-staffing segment treads water.

The market has discounted KELYA aggressively. P/B 0.34 says the market does not believe the goodwill from past acquisitions is real, and the trailing minus 7.57 EPS reflects a big goodwill writedown in 2024. Strip out non-cash impairments and core operations are profitable, with consensus forward EPS 1.74 USD — making forward P/E 5.5, the cheapest staffing multiple anywhere.

Kelly family controls Class B shares (super-voting) — typical dual-class staffing-industry setup. No major hedge-fund 13F whale. The Kelly family is conservative and has paid dividends for decades.

At 9.60 USD with negative trailing EPS (impairment-driven), the trailing P/E is meaningless. Forward P/E 5.5 on consensus 1.74 USD EPS. P/B 0.34 and P/S 0.08 are at the deep-value end of staffing multiples. EV/EBITDA 6.3 reflects the recession-cyclical risk premium.

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KELYA is exactly the kind of forgotten-staffing value play I find appealing for a deep-value sleeve. Forward P/E 5.5 with a 3.12 percent dividend yield and visible specialty-staffing growth gives multiple ways to win. Risk is recession-driven volume drop; reward is multiple expansion as specialty segment grows. I size 1 percent in a deep-value sleeve. The Kelly family will not sell — accept that and own for the dividend plus mean-reversion.