Sandwish/iStock via Getty Images Introduction It’s been over 2 and a half years since I covered HireQuest ( HQI ), so I thought it would be a good time to see how it performed throughout 2025 and whether it would be a good time to start a position. Unfortunately, the narrative remains. Margins are taking a beating as business slows, and I don’t see this changing in 2026 just yet; therefore, my hol...
Sandwish/iStock via Getty Images Introduction It’s been over 2 and a half years since I covered HireQuest ( HQI ), so I thought it would be a good time to see how it performed throughout 2025 and whether it would be a good time to start a position. Unfortunately, the narrative remains. Margins are taking a beating as business slows, and I don’t see this changing in 2026 just yet; therefore, my hold rating is staying in place. Since the last time I covered HQI, the share price went down by over 38%, while the SPY ( SPY ) advanced 51%, so you would have been better off setting and forgetting your investment in a broad index. 2025 Performance We can see straightaway that the company did not have a particularly good year just by looking at its top-line performance. HireQuest’s volumes were down throughout the year because staffing activity softened. This is not a surprising find at all. There were many layoffs throughout the year, so the decline was not all on the company’s inability to maintain growth, but rather it was the overall staffing activity that caused it. For the full year, revenues from royalties and services declined a little under 12%. System-wide sales declined about the same amount as well, to $500.2m. This matters because royalty revenue is tied to the staffing activity flowing through the franchise network. Seeking Alpha Going over the company’s profitability and efficiency, we can see that HQI’s margins went down as well. The management couldn’t offset the lower volume in hiring activity with internal cost-cutting initiatives enough. One positive this time around, however, is that the bottom line improved significantly due to much lower goodwill and intangible asset impairment charges this year, which helped its net margin double in a year. But operationally speaking, the company took a decent hit as well. Seeking Alpha Let’s see how the company’s financial situation fared during these tough times. HQI’s cash balance at the end of the year was around ...
rarrarorro U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that American military forces will stay deployed in and around Iran until Tehran fully honors the “real agreement,” and warned of a major escalation in fighting if it fails to comply, as oil prices rose on supply concerns. “All US ships, aircraft, and military personnel...will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL A...
rarrarorro U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that American military forces will stay deployed in and around Iran until Tehran fully honors the “real agreement,” and warned of a major escalation in fighting if it fails to comply, as oil prices rose on supply concerns. “All US ships, aircraft, and military personnel...will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with,” Trump wrote on Truth Social . “If for any reason it is not...the ‘Shootin’ Starts,′ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.” Trump reiterated that it was agreed that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons, and the Strait of Hormuz will be open and safe for commercial shipping. “In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest,” Trump added. He ended the post, which was published near midnight, with a declaration: “AMERICA IS BACK!” The remarks followed the largest coordinated strike of the war by Israel on Wednesday that killed more than 250 people in Lebanon, prompting a warning from Iran's lead negotiator that Israel's ramping up its parallel war and Washington's insistence on Tehran abandoning its nuclear ambitions could jeopardise talks to forge a permanent peace deal. "In such a situation, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations were unreasonable," Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammed Bager Qalibaf, said in a statement on Wednesday. Elsewhere, Vice President JD Vance, in response to the alleged drone incursion into Iran’s airspace, said, “Ceasefires are always messy.” He said the U.S. position is that Iran cannot enrich uranium. The ceasefire extending to Lebanon was never part of the agreement, he added. Brent crude futures ( CO1:COM ) were up 2.7% to $97.34 a barrel at press time, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude ( CL1:COM ) rose 3.4% to $97.57 a barrel, a day after both benchmarks had fallen sharply on the ceasefire announcement. Dea...
Nvidia is extending its Jetson edge AI platform to the Moon through a new collaboration with Firefly Aerospace to enable real time AI data processing in lunar orbit. The company is also joining Project Glasswing, an urgent multi company effort to apply advanced AI models to emerging cybersecurity threats. NVIDIA (NasdaqGS:NVDA) is moving its AI footprint beyond traditional data centers, with Jetso...
Nvidia is extending its Jetson edge AI platform to the Moon through a new collaboration with Firefly Aerospace to enable real time AI data processing in lunar orbit. The company is also joining Project Glasswing, an urgent multi company effort to apply advanced AI models to emerging cybersecurity threats. NVIDIA (NasdaqGS:NVDA) is moving its AI footprint beyond traditional data centers, with Jetson hardware and software now aimed at on orbit analytics around the Moon. For investors tracking...
Strattec Security (STRT) saw its shares surge in the last session with trading volume being higher than average. The latest trend in earnings estimate revisions may not translate into further price increase in the near term.
Strattec Security (STRT) saw its shares surge in the last session with trading volume being higher than average. The latest trend in earnings estimate revisions may not translate into further price increase in the near term.
Sanan Optoelectronics announced late on Wednesday that Lin Kechuang, the company’s vice chairman and general manager, had been retained and placed under investigation by graft busters in Chongqing. The general manager of Chinese LED giant Sanan Optoelectronics Co. Ltd. ( 600703.SH ) has been placed under investigation by anti-graft authorities, just weeks after a similar probe targeted the company...
Sanan Optoelectronics announced late on Wednesday that Lin Kechuang, the company’s vice chairman and general manager, had been retained and placed under investigation by graft busters in Chongqing. The general manager of Chinese LED giant Sanan Optoelectronics Co. Ltd. ( 600703.SH ) has been placed under investigation by anti-graft authorities, just weeks after a similar probe targeted the company’s founder. The concurrent investigations, coupled with the freezing of the controlling family’s entire 29.5% stake, threaten to upend control of one of China’s largest LED chipmakers.
The US is set to hold direct talks with Iran this weekend, even as continued fighting in the Middle East threatens to derail negotiations. Alan Eyre, Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Middle East Institute and a former senior US diplomat, told Joumanna Bercetche on Horizons Middle East & Africa that Iran is now in a stronger strategic position than before the war began. (Source: Bloomberg)
The US is set to hold direct talks with Iran this weekend, even as continued fighting in the Middle East threatens to derail negotiations. Alan Eyre, Distinguished Diplomatic Fellow at the Middle East Institute and a former senior US diplomat, told Joumanna Bercetche on Horizons Middle East & Africa that Iran is now in a stronger strategic position than before the war began. (Source: Bloomberg)
Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd, or CATL, plans to buy a 45 per cent stake in the parent of a Shenzhen-listed renewable-energy company, as the world’s biggest maker of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles seeks to expand its investments in green energy amid the global oil shock. CATL signed a framework agreement with two shareholders of Hangzhou Zhonhen Technology Investment on Wednesda...
Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd, or CATL, plans to buy a 45 per cent stake in the parent of a Shenzhen-listed renewable-energy company, as the world’s biggest maker of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles seeks to expand its investments in green energy amid the global oil shock. CATL signed a framework agreement with two shareholders of Hangzhou Zhonhen Technology Investment on Wednesday, agreeing to pay 4.09 billion yuan (US$598.5 million) for the deal, Hangzhou Zhonhen Electric, the...