Back to Rankings

KFY

Korn FerryB
NYSE / Commercial & Professional Services
Last Price
At close
2026-06-02
View Chart
Documents
55
Stored
Transcripts
2
Recent loaded
Latest report
2026-05-22
Investor release

Document history

Earnings documents stored for KFY.

12 shown
Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-05-22

Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) Q4 Earnings Surpass Estimates

Zacks

Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.78 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.32 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.61 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +35.02%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this defense contractor would post earnings of $1.26 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.77, delivering a surprise of +40.48%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. Booz Allen, which belongs to the Zacks Consulting Services industry, posted revenues of $2.78 billion for the quarter ended March 2026, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.43%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $2.97 billion. The company has not been able to beat consensus revenue estimates over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Booz Allen shares have lost about 9.5% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 8.8%. While Booz Allen has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Booz Allen was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (St...

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-05-17

Korn Ferry (KFY): Buy, Sell, or Hold Post Q4 Earnings?

StockStory

Korn Ferry currently trades at $64.52 per share and has shown little upside over the past six months, posting a small loss of 0.7%. The stock also fell short of the S&P 500’s 9.9% gain during that period. Is now the time to buy Korn Ferry, or should you be careful about including it in your portfolio? Check out our in-depth research report to see what our analysts have to say, it’s free. We're swiping left on Korn Ferry for now. Here are three reasons why KFY doesn't excite us and a stock we'd rather own. We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within business services, a stretched historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. Korn Ferry’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed significantly as its revenue was flat over the last two years. If you’ve followed StockStory for a while, you know we emphasize free cash flow. Why, you ask? We believe that in the end, cash is king, and you can’t use accounting profits to pay the bills. As you can see below, Korn Ferry’s margin dropped by 5.3 percentage points over the last five years. Continued declines could signal it is in the middle of an investment cycle. Korn Ferry’s free cash flow margin for the trailing 12 months was 10%. ROIC, or return on invested capital, is a metric showing how much operating profit a company generates relative to the money it has raised (debt and equity). We like to invest in businesses with high returns, but the trend in a company’s ROIC is what often surprises the market and moves the stock price. Unfortunately, Korn Ferry’s ROIC has decreased over the last few years. We like what management has done in the past, but its declining returns are perhaps a symptom of fewer profitable growth opportunities. Korn Ferry isn’t a terrible business, but it doesn’t pass our bar. With its shares trailing the market in recent months, the stock trades at 11.8× forward P/E (or $64.52 per share). This valuation multiple is fair, but we don’t have much faith in the company. We're pretty confident there are more exciting stocks to buy at the moment. Let us point you toward a top digital advertising platform riding the creator economy. ONE MORE THING: Top 5 Growth Stocks. The biggest stock winners almost always had one thing in common before they ran. Revenue growing like crazy. Meta. CrowdStrike. Broadcom. Our AI flagged all three. They retur...

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-03-16

5 Insightful Analyst Questions From Korn Ferry’s Q4 Earnings Call

StockStory

Korn Ferry’s fourth quarter results were met with a negative market reaction, despite the company surpassing Wall Street’s revenue and profit expectations. Management credited broad-based fee revenue growth across geographies and solutions, as well as operational efficiency gains, for the quarter’s performance. CEO Gary Burnison emphasized the firm’s efforts to deepen client relationships and highlighted the impact of labor market imbalances and increased demand for high-end talent solutions. CFO Robert Rozek noted that new business referrals and the Marquee & Diamond Accounts program were key contributors to recent growth. Is now the time to buy KFY? Find out in our full research report (it’s free). Revenue: $725 million vs analyst estimates of $708.8 million (7.2% year-on-year growth, 2.3% beat) EPS (GAAP): $1.25 vs analyst estimates of $1.23 (1.3% beat) Adjusted EBITDA: $123.1 million vs analyst estimates of $120.3 million (17% margin, 2.3% beat) Revenue Guidance for Q1 CY2026 is $740 million at the midpoint, below analyst estimates of $747.6 million EPS (GAAP) guidance for Q1 CY2026 is $1.37 at the midpoint, missing analyst estimates by 1.1% Operating Margin: 12.6%, in line with the same quarter last year Market Capitalization: $3.15 billion While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Tobey Sommer (Truist Securities) asked about the impact of AI on Korn Ferry's business. CEO Gary Burnison responded that AI will likely increase efficiency and opportunity, particularly at the high end of the labor force, and stressed the firm’s focus on highly skilled talent unaffected by automation. Tobey Sommer (Truist Securities) questioned whether Korn Ferry can grow if unemployment rises. Burnison argued that the company’s diversification and demographic trends support resilience, noting that executive roles have remained robust even in labor downturns. Tobey Sommer (Truist Securities) inquired if Talent Suite will mostly deepen relationships or bring in new clients. Burnison said the main goal is to embed Korn Ferry’s language and data within existing clients, with the greatest immediate impact expected from relationship...

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-03-10

Korn Ferry (KFY) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Revenue Growth Amid Challenging ...

GuruFocus.com

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Consolidated Fee Revenue: Grew 7% to $717 million. Adjusted EBITDA: Increased by $9 million or 7.5% to $123 million. Adjusted EBITDA Margin: 17.2%, up 10 basis points. Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share: Grew $0.09 or 8% to $1.28. Total Company New Business (Excluding RPO): Grew 11%. RPO New Business: $54 million, with 78% from new logos. Estimated Remaining Fees Under Existing Contracts: $1.85 billion, up 11% year-over-year. Capital Allocation: $113 million returned to shareholders; $64 million invested in capital expenditures. Quarterly Cash Dividend: Increased by 15% to $0.55 per share. Fee Revenue Growth by Region: Americas up 6%, EMEA up 13%, APAC down 2%. Subscription and Licensed New Business: Grew 30% year-over-year. Average Hourly Bill Rates: Consulting grew by 2%, interim grew by 15%. Outlook for Q4 FY26 Fee Revenue: Expected to range from $730 million to $750 million. Q4 FY26 Adjusted EBITDA Margin Outlook: Expected to range from 17.1% to 17.3%. Q4 FY26 Adjusted Diluted EPS Outlook: Expected to range from $1.34 to $1.40. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 2 Warning Sign with KFY. Is KFY fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: March 09, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) reported its fifth consecutive quarter of accelerating year-over-year fee revenue growth, with a 7% increase to $717 million. The company's adjusted EBITDA grew by 7.5% to $123 million, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 17.2%, reflecting strong profitability. Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) has successfully increased its revenue per head count by almost one third over the last three years, contributing to a 300 basis point margin expansion. The company has a strong client base, with 4,500 clients representing 90% of its revenue, and significant opportunities to deepen relationships with these clients. Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) has been involved in six out of seven major CEO transitions recently, highlighting its impact and client centricity at the top executive level. The labor market remains challenging, with Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) operating in an environment where business conditions are tough. APAC region fee revenue declined by 2%, indicating some regional weaknesses in the company's performance. The digital segment was flat y...

TranscriptFY2026 Q32026-03-09

FY2026 Q3 earnings call transcript

Earnings source - 45 paragraphs
Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Korn Ferry Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded for replay purposes. We have also made available in the Investor Relations section of our website at kornferry.com, a copy of the financial presentation that we will be reviewing with you today. Before I turn the call over to your host, Mr. Gary Burnison, let me first read a cautionary statement to investors. Certain statements made in the call today, such as those relating to future performance, plans and goals constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although the company believes and that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. Actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected or desired because of a number of risks and uncertainties, which are beyond the company's control. Additional information concerning such risks and uncertainties can be found in the release relating to this presentation and in the periodic and other reports filed by the company with the SEC, including the company's annual report for fiscal year 2025 and in the company's soon to be filed quarterly report for the quarter ended January 31, 2026. Also, some of the comments today may reference non-GAAP financial measures such as constant currency amounts, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. Additional information concerning these measures, including reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is contained in the financial presentation and earnings release relating to this call. both of which are posted in the Investor Relations section of the company's website at www.kornferry.com. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Burnison. Please go ahead, Mr. Burnison.

Gary Burnison

Okay. Thank you, Regina, and thank you, everybody, for joining us. Our outstanding performance during the quarter reflects the ongoing evolution of our firm from One Korn Ferry to We Are Korn Ferry. Fundamentally, our purpose is to enable people and organizations to be more [indiscernible]. As I reflect on all the recent conversations surrounding AI and disintermediation, it strikes me that the question isn't simply will AI take away jobs? The fact is there won't be enough workers. The prism we need to look through is of a stark and balance in labor supply. So while there may be fewer jobs compared to the last couple of decades, there will also be a lot less people in the labor force and let's be clear on what this means. It's not simply that AI will take away your job, it's that those not embracing technology in AI will be left out. Today, the world is enveloped by unprecedented levels of change ripple effects from the pandemic, aging demographics and technological advancement from something out of Star Wars, all of which is converging to exert greater impact on the way people live, work and consume. For example, birth rates in the U.S. have been falling since the late 1960s. They've essentially been cut by more than half in each year. 10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day. That's $4 million a year for the next several years. Over the next 10 years, labor force participation is forecasted to decline further. And today, it's already lower than pre-COVID levels. As the labor force gets smaller, technology or immigration will need to fill the gap between supply and demand to maintain economic growth and AI will absolutely play a critical role. And at Korn Ferry, we're at the forefront of working directly with global decision-makers who are grappling with these issues as they seek answers to creating and sustaining a high-performing workforce. The outliers of achievement and performance are going to be more in demand, not less in demand. The need for highly skilled, agile talent will only increase. It will be more critical than ever to identify the 20% doing the 80%. Companies must identify, hire, develop and retain the scarce, experienced professionals needed to lead this transformation, which invariably means doing more with less. And when we look at our own business, and our clients, it supports this macroeconomic thesis. Internally, we have become far more efficient and productive. Over the last 3 years, revenue is up and costs are down. Our revenue per head count has increased by almost 1/3. As a result, we are more profitable and we've grown our margins by more than 300 basis points. And we're continuing to drive a major transformation from One Korn Ferry to We Are Korn Ferry. What does it mean? Well, it means that we're not 5 businesses. We're one business with 5 solutions and 9,000 colleagues all with a unified mindset and it begins with client centricity, deepening our solutions with our existing clients to unlock growth. We've got more than 10,000 clients around the world but 4,500 of those represent 90% of our revenue. And when I look at that set of clients, our penetration is only 1.5 or 2 solutions per client for 2/3 of the 4,500 clients. That means there's a lot of runway to deepen the relationship. So with We Are Korn Ferry, we are taking a top-down and bottom-up systematic process to tap this growth opportunity. Our margin [indiscernible] again outperform the portfolio, up 9%, contributing 40% of our overall total revenue. Our cross business referrals are now at a near high of 27% of our business. And at the top of the house, our work has never been more impactful. Recently, a well-known TV broadcast highlighted 7 major CEO transitions over the last few months. And we were involved in 6 of them, further reflecting our client centricity, we've won several significant transformation engagements across the globe. A major aerospace and defense company is one of our first end-to-end Talent Suite customers, utilizing our proprietary data to make better talent decisions across 40,000-plus employees. This is a multiyear Talent Suite engagement. For me, Talent Suite isn't a product. It's [ moneyball ] for business based on data beyond compare. It gives clients decades of insight of what separates great from good. And it powers the entire firm. As one of the top financial institutions in the world with nearly 100,000 employees, we're supporting a new enterprise-wide talent excellence program, incorporating our world-class assessment capability and leadership accelerator programs. And finally, we're proud to be a founding partner of the LA '28 Olympic and Paralympic games, powering the people who power the games. We're not only building their C-suite but also helping them design the organization and hiring the nearly 5,000 people who will perform on the world's most inspiring stage. With that, I will turn it over to Bob Rozek. Bob, go ahead.

Robert Rozek

Great. Thanks, Gary, and good afternoon or good morning. We're very pleased with our third quarter results. This is our fifth consecutive quarter of accelerating year-over-year fee revenue growth, and we continue to deliver earnings growth, driving strong profitability and free cash flow. Our go-to-market approach continues to be intentional and focused on opportunities where we can build broader relationships with clients by selling larger integrated solutions that support their evolving talent issues. Now what's really impressive is we are doing this in an environment where business conditions and labor markets remain challenged. It is very clear that our strategy is working and our results demonstrate that we have built a company that is different from others in the industry. We performed differently because we are different. Now turning to overall company results comparing Q3 of FY '26 to Q3 of FY '25. Our consolidated fee revenue grew 7% to $717 million, again, our fifth consecutive quarter of accelerating year-over-year growth. Earnings continued to grow in line with fee revenue and profitability remains strong. Adjusted EBITDA grew $9 million or 7.5% to $123 million. Our adjusted EBITDA margin was 17.2%, up 10 basis points and adjusted diluted earnings per share grew $0.09 or 8% to $1.28. Total company new business, excluding RPO, grew 11%, with both consulting and digital reaching all-time quarterly highs. RPO delivered $54 million of new business in the quarter with 78% coming from new logos and 22% from renewals. Estimated remaining fees under existing contracts at the end of the quarter were $1.85 billion. It's up 11% year-over-year and we estimate that approximately 60% or about $1.1 billion will be recognized within the next year with the remaining 40% or about $734 million estimated to be recognized beyond the next 4 quarters. And finally, our capital allocation during the quarter remained balanced. Through the end of the third quarter, we have returned about $113 million to shareholders through combined share repurchases and dividends, and we've invested $64 million back into capital expenditures, focused on Talent Suite, productivity tools and other solution and product enhancements. In a separate announcement last week, our Board has approved a 15% increase in our quarterly cash dividend to $0.55 per share, and that's our seventh dividend increase in the last 6 years. Our cash flow remains strong, and we are confident in the outlook for our business. In addition to the detailed results found in our posted earnings presentation, here are a few company-wide in solution-specific highlights for the third quarter. You saw fee revenue growth was very broad-based across all solutions. The interim portion of our PS&I solution grew 4%, continuing to benefit from new business referrals, which were a key factor driving our outperformance in an industry that has been challenged for more than 36 months. Our new business referrals and Marquee & Diamond Accounts program continue to be contributors of growth enabled by our We Are Korn Ferry go-to-market initiative. As Gary mentioned, new business referrals accounted for 27.2% of our consolidated fee revenue, that's up 200 basis points year-over-year and the Marquee & Diamond Accounts continued to be strong at 40% of our total fee revenue. Also in the third quarter, subscription and licensed new business grew 30% year-over-year and accounted for 43% of Digital's total new business. Additionally, in the third quarter, subscription and license fee revenue grew 8%. And finally, our average hourly bill rates for consulting and interim grew by 2% and 15%, respectively, again, demonstrating the high value our clients place on these solutions. Now turning to our regions. Fee revenue in the Americas was up 6%, led by growth in Executive Search and RPO. EMEA fee revenue continued to be strong, growing 13% with double-digit growth in Executive Search, Consulting, Digital and PS&I and APAC fee revenue declined slightly at 2% with growth in Executive Search being offset by modest weakness in other solutions. Now turning to our outlook for the fourth quarter of fiscal '26. Assuming no material negative impact from the recent Middle East conflict and no further changes in worldwide geopolitical conditions, economic conditions, financial markets, and foreign exchange rates, we expect fee revenue in the fourth quarter to range from $730 million to $750 million. Our adjusted EBITDA margin to range from 17.1% to 17.3% and our consolidated adjusted diluted earnings per share as well as our GAAP diluted earnings per share to range from $1.34 to $1.40. Now in closing, our financial results over the last 5 quarters demonstrate that our unique combination of foundational assets, expertise and capabilities truly matter to our clients. Looking to the future, I'm very excited about our opportunities to drive continued top line growth. You heard Gary talk about our top 4,500 clients. With the rollout of Talent Suite and our We are Korn Ferry, we continue to see significant opportunity to expand those relationships in what we call the green space that is horizontal expansion where we bring additional solutions to our clients, vertical expansion where we leverage our strong C-suite relationships and provide solutions at scale to what we call the [indiscernible], and that's down into an organization's professional ranks. We have a great playbook to run from our Marquee & Diamond Accounts where we have a strong track record of successfully expanding those relationships. I also see further opportunities in our joint go-to-market activities particularly between consulting and digital. And as I've said many times before on these calls, I am more convinced than ever that our best is yet to come. With that, we would be glad to answer any questions you may have.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question will come from the line of Tobey Sommer with Truist Securities.

Tobey Sommer

So markets are certainly reacting to a number of potential outcomes as a result of AI. How do you see AI impacting Korn Ferry?

Gary Burnison

Well, I think it's going to -- at the end of the day, it's going to allow us to drive more efficiency as we've done over the last 3 years, number one. And number two, where we play, we're playing at the high end -- at the high end of the labor force. I mean take the United States, there's only 25,000 companies that have 1,000 employees or more. And so when I look at the U.S. labor force today of 171 million, and really look through the categories of talent, Korn Ferry and its clients are very much at the high end. And so I don't really see that high-end labor talent being disintermediated. And so I believe, long term, but it's actually going to create more opportunity for us, not just an efficiency in how we deliver services, but also in terms of our client solutions and delivery. I mean we've got a number of engagements where we're using what we have is proprietary AI-ready leadership assessment tool. And we're using that through the Talent Suite to help companies transform their workforce. So I -- look, I just look at the numbers in the labor force. And over the last 20 years, the U.S. labor force has created something like 20 million to 25 million jobs. Over the next 10 years, it's estimated to be 5 million. And last year, we produced as a country very, very few jobs. And so I think you've got this huge imbalance between the demand and supply of labor that either has to get filled through immigration or technology. And I would say it's going to be heavily on technologies. So for me, it's not -- it's not a simple question that AI will take away jobs. It's the people that don't embrace AI, they're going to be left out. So I -- look, this is early days. And most -- when we talk to most clients, truthfully, they haven't fully figured out how to use AI to drive efficiency. But when I look at the demographic trends, it's quite clear that companies are going to have to do more with less. It's mathematics around demographics.

Tobey Sommer

In that context, I want to just double click, if we had a higher -- or an increase in unemployment, do you think the company can grow in that kind of environment that typically used to be characterized or would reflect an economic recession and maybe it would or maybe it won't in this -- if AI goes to the [indiscernible] degree as some are thinking?

Gary Burnison

Well, we're trying -- I mean, this is my 95th earnings call -- quarterly earnings call. And many years ago, the company was dependent on one solution, which was Executive Search, and that was directly tied not only to the stock market with a high correlation but to unemployment and what was happening in the labor force. Today, you've got a much more diversified business with 5 different solutions. And I think we've demonstrated over the last 36 months, which I consider a labor recession that there's quarters that one solution is up and another is down. And the thing that's very interesting is when you look at the Executive Search solution, and you think about the labor market over the last 36 months, you would have expected based on historical data going back many years, that the Executive Search solution would actually be down. When in fact, it's the opposite. And so I think that tells you part of the story there is around demographics. I mean, clearly, it's around the strategy. There's no doubt about that. But it's also reflective of demographics. It's reflected of post-COVID life and it's reflective of boards looking at leadership teams and saying, hey, what got you here isn't going to get you there. I mean people are making choices about opting out of the labor force because most of those people in the C-suite were leading businesses during COVID. And so maybe it's worked life balance. But there is something going on here that's interesting. And I look at it and say, our clients, the people that are making decisions around us are truly the outliers of achievement. And I just don't -- I don't look at it and think, oh, my god, out of 171 million people in the labor force, 20 million are in management roles. I just don't see that they're going to be wiped out here. We have not disintermediated humanity.

Tobey Sommer

If I could ask one more, and I'll get back in the queue. With respect to Talent Suite, do you think that is more likely to have the biggest impact deepening existing relationships, making them stickier somehow? Or is it more about expanding into new customer relationships? And I'm sure there's an element of both. But if you had to choose which way would you go?

Gary Burnison

I think it's the former. The thing where there is incredible and we've been working now for it's 12 months on We are Korn Ferry. And the crux of it when you look at it, there's 4,500 clients that represent 90% of our revenue. And when you look at that client base, what you're going to find is that you look at 2/3 of them, and we're only doing 1.5 or 2 solutions. So I look at Talent Suite as not a digital solution play. I look at it as empowering the entire firm. And ultimately, the goal is to try to infuse Korn Ferry's language of talent in the companies, how they hire, how they design an organization, how they retain, how they pay, how they develop. So I look at it much broader, but the goal absolutely is a little bit like a Trojan horse to embed the language of client. And then when it comes to the digital solution and Talent Suite, the reality is you've got -- we've probably got about 6,000 clients on Talent Suite, something like that. And when you look at that, what you're going to find is that 70% of them are only using one product within Talent Suite. And so there's enormous opportunity there. So for me, it comes down to having a systematic approach on the go-to-market side and having client service teams that are targeting and servicing the world's biggest companies.

Operator

Our next question will come from the line of Trevor Romeo with William Blair.

Trevor Romeo

Maybe I'll just follow up on the Talent Suite discussion. Because it look like your fees under contract were up double digits for both consulting and digital, I think your subscription and license fee revenue and the new business also accelerated. So would you attribute any of that to, I guess, very early returns from Talent Suite? Is it already having an impact? Or if not, maybe you could speak to what drove that? Because it seems like a pretty meaningful acceleration for both of those solutions.

Gary Burnison

Yes. We had a killer -- we had a killer a couple of months in the quarter of new business. We -- again, the strategy is trying to deepen the relationships, driving client centricity. And I would say that the talent suite had a little impact, but not much because we did a soft launch in November. And the harder launch was in January, we converted all of the clients seamlessly. We didn't have any problems. And now we're embarking on a journey to get all of our 2,000 front-of-the-house colleagues to be able to talk to our clients about our -- what I think our data is beyond compare. I really do. And so I look at it and say it's kind of moneyball for business. And we've got 50-plus years knowing how you separate great from good. And I think in an environment going forward where companies are going to have to do more with less, I think this could play a big role in our future. But I don't simply look at it as a digital solution play, it's really connected to everything we do, our RPO solution, Executive Search solution, Professional Search solution. It's a foundation for the firm. We've never in the past taken all of our IP and put it in a seamless warehouse where you can go in and do benchmarking on your workforce and all that. So look, it's early days, and we rolled out the technology and now it's getting our front of the house colleagues on a very targeted basis to take this to our client base.

Trevor Romeo

That's encouraging. And then maybe one other Talent Suite question. Now that you have it in place up and running in addition to your other sort of tech and AI investments, how do you view Korn Ferry's technology spending, I guess, in total in the next few years, whether that's CapEx or OpEx? Is the ongoing run rate here, do you think going to be higher or lower than you may have seen in the past or the same, I guess?

Gary Burnison

Well, I think Bob can probably address that more. I would just say that when you look back, we've had a fairly balanced approach to capital deployment. And call it, the last trailing 15 months or so, I think the bet has been more towards Talent Suite and CapEx and obviously, dividend, look, we just raised the dividend again. I think it's our seventh raise in 6 years. I think you may see us lean a little bit more heavily in the stock buybacks over the next few months. So there could be a slight change versus call it, the first 9 months of this fiscal year because it was heavily tilted towards technology spend.

Robert Rozek

Yes, I think that's right, Gary. I think if you -- Trevor, if you look at our CapEx spend, we're probably around the $80 million to $85 million run rate currently, and we had anticipated that coming back down to what you would have seen more historically is, say, $60 million, $65 million run rate, and we'll probably see that drop going into our fiscal '27. So we're in the process of doing our planning for next year right now. And as Gary indicated, it's one of the things that we look at and think about quite a bit is how we allocate capital. And I would say you'll see the CapEx probably drop a bit, but maybe lean more heavily as Gary indicated into buybacks, certainly, where -- when you see the market dislocated like it is today.

Trevor Romeo

Yes. Okay. If I could maybe just ask one more on your interim business. I think you talked about the cross referrals driving outperformance there. Obviously, the [indiscernible] space has been very tough the last several years, as you pointed out. So maybe just what kind of demand trends are you seeing there independent of your cross referrals? Are you seeing maybe a little pickup in conversations in the last few months? And then on the bill rate jumping up to almost 150, anything you'd call out from a mix perspective there?

Gary Burnison

Yes. It's the Korn Ferry [indiscernible]. I mean, we're trying to -- we want to compete there at the very high end of talent because of the questions that have been raised around AI and the like. So we want to be focused on the outliers of achievement. And yes, you look at what I've seen in the industry, people have reported, they saw slight uptick sequentially late November, saw that in December, sawing it flow through to January, somewhat flat in February because of the shorter number of days. But yes, that we've seen absolutely that go up. It's up -- it was up 4% in the quarter. That's just the interim part of the business and the bill rates have gone up. And so the temp penetration rate is still at historic lows, you know that better than I. I look back over the last 25 years, and generally, in the workforce, there's been about, in the United States, 2.5 million temp workers. Obviously, the penetration rate has been significantly higher than it has today. I don't think that's going to go away. In fact, you could make the argument that companies are going to need more flex arrangements to deal with one-off projects and the like. So we're very, very happy with how that solution has done. And the opportunity there quite candidly, is not only the United States for us, but Europe. And we made an investment in an interim solution and an executive interim solution in Europe going back probably 15, 16 months ago. And that has absolutely outperformed. And one of the reasons why it's outperformed is because how we have integrated not only because there's talented people but we've also been very, very purposeful on We Are Korn Ferry go-to-market strategy.

Operator

Our next question will come from the line of George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

Unknown Analyst

This is Alex on for George. I wanted to see if you could provide an update on what you're seeing with sales cycles and how client spending behavior may be differing across segments and whether there's been any impact from macro sensitivity?

Gary Burnison

I haven't seen any. The reality is more of the same. I mean the BLS numbers in the United States were obviously not great. They weren't great because of health care. But if you just look back over many months, the jobs have been created were in the health care government. So I mean, to me, it's more of the same. Now what I can't comment on is the last 10 days or so. And I don't think anybody can. We have not factored that into our guidance. 10 days in, we just -- you just don't know. But I can just tell you the direction of travel for this firm is unbelievable. And I've been here with dot-com crisis, long-term credit crisis, Great Recession, COVID, all of that, Russia, Ukraine, I can go on and on and on, the changes in China and the extended lockdowns there. I can go on and on and on, but the reality is when you look at the direction of travel, this firm is outstanding.

Robert Rozek

The other thing I would add to that, too, is if you look at the new business in the third quarter, Gary mentioned we had a couple of really good months. The thing I found very interesting usually October and March are high watermarks for new business. And then December is usually one of the slowest months because of the year-end holidays and so on. And we hit an all-time high in new business in October, and we eclipsed that in December this past year. And we saw some very large engagements being signed. In fact, 44% of the consulting new business in the quarter were engagements over $0.5 million. So as Gary mentioned before, we're playing top of the house, people really value what we bring, and they're struggling to work their way through the somewhat chaotic world that we live in today, and they're only going to do that through their talent, and that's exactly where we come in.

Unknown Analyst

Yes. Got it. That's very helpful. And then I want to ask on the digital side, which saw some improvement sequentially, but was flat year-over-year on a constant currency basis. So can you touch on what drove this and how the pivot toward enterprise-oriented sales is progressing?

Gary Burnison

Yes. I mean that's something we have to do. We have to continue to look at our own talent, and we have to ensure that all 2,000 of our consultants can have a more enterprise-wide conversation for sure. And when you look at the digital solution only, you're going to find that it's just an increasing percentage is longer term kind of software as a service deal. So I don't sit there and look at simply revenue. I look at the entire firm and what is it doing in terms of our win loss rate, which we also carefully monitor and study. And is the backlog -- what is the backlog doing? So I sit there and say, in this environment, am I totally satisfied? No, not satisfied. But we've only been at this with this IP in a common warehouse for a couple of months. I mean this has not been very long at all.

Operator

Our next question will come from the line of Josh Chan with UBS.

Joshua Chan

I guess on your consulting side of business, this is usually a business that is stronger when the economy is more [indiscernible], I guess. And so could you just talk to the recent strengths in this consulting new business and what are some of the common threats that you're getting from sort of the 0.5 million-plus engagements that kind of Bob kind of alluded to earlier?

Gary Burnison

It's around transformation. It's around org strategy and transformation. That would be the big ticket theme for those larger engagements. And I read something last night, there was a report that consulting firms in calendar 2025, grew something like 5% or 5.5%. You have to kind of question that a little bit. But I look at our overall firm over the past, call it, 12 months, and I'm saying, hey, we're in line or better recognizing that part of our business deals with the labor markets, which haven't been exactly fantastic.

Robert Rozek

Josh, the other thing I would say, too, is if you look at in the consulting business right now, Gary talked about transformation. A lot of companies are looking at their talent. Now are they ready to be productive in an AI world, and we have solutions that look at AI-ready leaders, AI-ready talent, and that's where you see the assessment and succession having strong year-over-year growth in that quarter as well.

Joshua Chan

Okay. Okay. That's great color. And then maybe a quick question on margin. So if Korn Ferry continues to grow at the similar revenue growth rate that you're kind of guiding to, what's the right way to think about kind of margin expansion for the company as a whole kind of going forward?

Gary Burnison

I mean in this investment, the investment horizon we have right now, we've -- I think what we've said is 16% to 18%. Part of it depends on the M&A execution. And for example, how much -- if there's more opportunities, which I think there are around the interim market in the interim solution, that obviously -- that mix change has a big impact on that question. But we also have to make sure that we are making the right investments as a firm, particularly around talent. So I think for now, that over this investment horizon, that's reasonable. But if you look back over the last kind of 3 years or 4 years, something like that, this is after the [ great resignation ] which probably ended somewhere late '22, early mid-'23. The reality is our head count per colleague is up almost like 35%. So we've got a track record of being able to drive client impact the top line but also be more profitable.

Joshua Chan

Congrats on the good results.

Operator

Our next question will come from the line of Mark Marcon with Baird.

Mark Marcon

I just wanted to follow up on the last series of questions. Gary, when you're talking about the investment horizon, how long are you thinking in terms of that 16% to 18%? Because I can't help but notice you're increasing your revenue. And then if we go through all the charts, it's like the number of consultants on staff has actually been flat to down, most frequently down. And so I'm trying to think through like when you think long term and you think about like, hey, we've got 2,000 front-facing consultants, 9,000 colleagues in total, and we're probably in the early stages in terms of implementing AI. I'm just wondering like how -- when you really think about longer term, how efficient can you be? And I know you've got to make some investments in terms of people, but how are you thinking about that longer term?

Gary Burnison

Clients have asked me that question, Mark, as they're looking at their organization. And I'm not -- this comment is not specifically to Korn Ferry. And this is clearly an estimate. But I think if you were to say look out over 5 to 7 years and given the demographic trends that were -- that we've talked about on this call, and the "shrinking labor force, not as many people coming into the labor force, not only in the United States but other countries as well. And then the promise -- then the question is, well, how do you fill all that gap? Will you either do it through immigration or technology. So given the mathematics around labor force participation and the promise of AI, what I've told clients is if you look out that kind of 5 years, median of the bell curve, I would expect your labor force to be smaller by, say, 15% for sure. Now I'm not talking about every company, every industry, every sector. But just generally speaking, the theme would have to be as it is for the country of the United States, it would have to be more with less. So that wouldn't -- that's the advice that I've been giving to clients.

Mark Marcon

Great. And I mean, where would you say you are in terms of harnessing AI in terms of increasing the efficiency? Are you -- is it the first inning? Are we seeing the national anthem? Or are we in the third inning?

Gary Burnison

We've taken the field. Look, the reality with all this talk, I think that many, many, many companies are in the first inning here. But there's enough there, there where you say, okay, I get it. Technology can definitely make you more efficient. And then the question is behavioral change. So the real question is people don't change unless there's a reason to change. And the question for leadership of companies is how do you create that change? How do you get people to truly embrace the ever-evolving technology that's out there. That's really the question. And I think, look, the reality is, I think most people are in the first inning, Mark.

Mark Marcon

Okay. Great. And then with regards to Talent Suite, can you talk a little bit about like when you're doing these big deals, and you mentioned the aerospace company with 40,000 employees, when you're pricing this and you're pricing it for complete access to Talent Suite, how do you price it? How should we think about that sort of lift? [indiscernible] in terms of [indiscernible] revenue.

Gary Burnison

Yes, yes, size of company and number -- size of company and number of seats. I mean, that's generally how we do it. And is it an existing client of Korn Ferry. So what we've seen is that, for example, people we'll ask the questions. CEOs will ask the question. Is my labor force "AI-ready", which a lot of that will come down to agility in dealing with ambiguity. So then what you would do is go in and assess 5,000, 10,000 people, and we produce an MRI that would say, okay, this is what the thinking style, leadership style of the organization looks like. Based on our research, this is what a future-ready workforce would look like. And here are the -- here's how you stack up. Here's the gaps and here's a plan towards remediation. And it also depends, too, is what level of consulting is wrapped around that.

Mark Marcon

Got it. And then a question for Bob. Maybe with regards to consulting in the third quarter, you had a 5% lift in terms of revenue, but the margins went down by 70 basis points year-over-year and the head count is down. What's the underlying reason for those margins to be down? And this is in the context of a great quarter so just kind of understand [indiscernible]

Robert Rozek

Yes, it is Mark. And one of the things is our fee revenues were well above our guidance range, they attract more bonus dollars. So we had an opportunity to get caught up there on the bonus that we provide for folks that put a little bit of downward pressure on the margin in the quarter.

Mark Marcon

Got it. Okay. That's great. And then, Gary, one last one for you, if you'll take it. And I know you were only 10 days in, but generally speaking, like after all of the various things that you've gone through, what's your expectation in terms of like how long this would have to continue before plans would change or that you'd actually see a meaningful difference just in terms of client behavior?

Gary Burnison

Well, this is just one person -- I mean, one person's view. It's -- I don't think anybody really knows the answer to that. I mean in the United States, transportation and transportation costs, including gas are 17% to 20% of consumer spending. And so elevated oil prices are not good for consumer spending, which you're already dealing with the K-shaped economy, there's a cost of living crisis. So that's clearly a negative. And to what extent have we opened [indiscernible] the least qualified person to answer that question, but that's certainly one. Our colleagues in the Middle East, which we have an incredible, incredible business -- our colleagues are continuing under very difficult circumstances, much like our colleagues in Ukraine have done throughout this time. They're working from home, taking safety precautions. As of last week, it hasn't materially impacted our delivery of services. But I think you go out -- I think it will be another 90 days or so before you really get line of sight on what all this means beyond oil [indiscernible] mean beyond oil, what does this really mean?

Operator

And it appears there are no further questions at this time. Mr. Burnison?

Gary Burnison

Okay. Thank you all for the questions. I'm incredibly proud of this organization and to be a founding partner, which may seem a ways away of LA 28, but it's not. And I think that will highlight just the power of our organization for sure. We're excited about that. So with that, thank you for your questions, and we'll talk to you next time. Bye-bye.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this conference call will be available for replay for one week starting today running through the end of the day, March 16, 2026 and again midnight. You may access the Echo replay service by dialing (800) 770-2030 and entering the access code 3268315, followed by the pound key. Additionally, the replay will be available for playback at the company's website, www.kornferry.com in the Investor Relations section. This concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-03-06

Korn Ferry Board Authorizes Quarterly Dividend Increase for Sixth Consecutive Year

Business Wire

Dividend Increases 15% to $0.55 Per Share LOS ANGELES, March 05, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY), a global consulting firm, today announced its Board of Directors has approved a 15% increase in its quarterly cash dividend, raising the quarterly dividend from $0.48 per share to $0.55 per share. This dividend will be payable on April 15, 2026 to shareholders of record on March 27, 2026. This represents an indicated annual dividend of $2.20 per share. "We are pleased to announce a 15 percent per share increase to our quarterly dividend, bringing it to $0.55," said Gary D. Burnison, CEO, Korn Ferry. "This marks our sixth consecutive year of dividend growth. Our ability to consistently return capital to shareholders underscores the durability of our business and our disciplined, long-term focus on creating sustainable shareholder value." About Korn Ferry Korn Ferry is a global consulting firm that powers performance. We unlock the potential in your people and unleash transformation across your business—synchronizing strategy, operations, and talent to accelerate performance, fuel growth, and inspire a legacy of change. That’s why the world’s most forward-thinking companies across every major industry turn to us—for a shared commitment to lasting impact and the bold ambition to Be More Than. Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this Press Release that relate to Korn Ferry’s goals, strategies, future plans and expectations, and other statements of future events or conditions are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Words such as "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "may", "should", "will", "likely", and "confidence", and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. Such statements are based on current expectations; actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected or desired because of a number of risks and uncertainties that are beyond the control of Korn Ferry, including global and local political and economic developments, demand fluctuations, and those risks and uncertainties included in Korn Ferry’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the factors described in the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and "For...

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2026-03-02

Korn Ferry to Report Quarterly Earnings via Live Webcast on March 9, 2026

Business Wire

LOS ANGELES, March 02, 2026--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) today announced that the firm will release financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 (ended January 31, 2026) on Monday, March 9, 2026. A press release will be issued before the market opens on Monday, March 9, 2026, followed by a live webcast at 12:00 pm EDT. About Korn Ferry Korn Ferry is a global consulting firm that powers performance. We unlock the potential in your people and unleash transformation across your business—synchronizing strategy, operations, and talent to accelerate performance, fuel growth, and inspire a legacy of change. That’s why the world’s most forward-thinking companies across every major industry turn to us—for a shared commitment to lasting impact and the bold ambition to Be More Than. As the Official Talent & Organizational Consulting Partner of LA28, Korn Ferry is powering the nearly 5,000 people who power the Olympics Games—bringing in the right talent, building strong leaders, and shaping the structure and culture that will deliver an unforgettable experience for the world. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260302788137/en/ Contacts Investor Relations: Tiffany Louder, (214) 310-8407 Media: Dan Gugler, (310) 226-2645

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2025-12-16

The 5 Most Interesting Analyst Questions From Korn Ferry’s Q3 Earnings Call

StockStory

Korn Ferry’s third quarter results were well received by investors, as the company outperformed Wall Street’s revenue and profit expectations. Management credited the ongoing success of its “We Are Korn Ferry” strategy, which emphasizes cross-solution integration and deeper client relationships. CEO Gary Burnison highlighted that business referrals reached nearly 28% of consolidated fee revenue, reflecting increased collaboration across teams. The executive search and professional search segments saw notable momentum, with Burnison pointing to demographic shifts—like the retirement of experienced leaders and evolving work-life preferences—as key factors supporting demand. Management also cited the expansion of interim and RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) solutions, especially in EMEA, as further evidence of the strategy’s effectiveness. Is now the time to buy KFY? Find out in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members). Revenue: $729.8 million vs analyst estimates of $717.4 million (7% year-on-year growth, 1.7% beat) Adjusted EPS: $1.33 vs analyst estimates of $1.31 (1.4% beat) Adjusted EBITDA: $124.8 million vs analyst estimates of $122.4 million (17.1% margin, 2% beat) Revenue Guidance for Q4 CY2025 is $687 million at the midpoint, below analyst estimates of $696.7 million Adjusted EPS guidance for Q4 CY2025 is $1.22 at the midpoint, below analyst estimates of $1.24 Operating Margin: 13.5%, in line with the same quarter last year Market Capitalization: $3.59 billion While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Joshua Chan (UBS) asked about sustained strength in Executive Search despite a slower job market. CEO Gary Burnison attributed it to demographic trends and evolving leadership needs, emphasizing the impact of retirements and shifting executive priorities. Trevor Romeo (William Blair) inquired whether improvement in placement solutions was due to increased client hiring or cross-selling. Burnison confirmed cross-selling and integration were primary drivers, with only modest changes in client willingness to hire. Trevor Romeo (William Blair) also questioned consulting bill rate dynamic...

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2025-12-10

Korn Ferry (KFY) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Growth Amid Strategic Transformation

GuruFocus.com

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Consolidated Fee Revenue: Grew 7% year-over-year to $722 million. Adjusted EBITDA: Increased by $8 million or 7% year-over-year to $125 million. Adjusted EBITDA Margin: Strong at 17.3%. Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share: Grew $0.12 or 10% year-over-year to $1.33. Estimated Remaining Fees Under Existing Contracts: Increased to $1.84 billion, up 20% year-over-year. Executive Search Fee Revenue: Grew 10%, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. Professional Search and Interim Fee Revenue: Up 17% year-over-year. Hourly Bill Rates: Consulting at $460 and interim at $142 per hour. Regional Fee Revenue: Americas up 3%, EMEA up 20%, APAC flat. Capital Allocation: $70 million returned to shareholders through repurchases and dividends; $43 million invested in capital expenditures. Third Quarter Fiscal '26 Outlook: Fee revenue expected to range from $680 million to $694 million; adjusted EBITDA margin from 17.2% to 17.4%; adjusted diluted EPS from $1.19 to $1.25. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Sign with KFY. Is KFY fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: December 09, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) posted its fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth, demonstrating the success of its strategic transformation. The company's Executive Search fee revenue grew 10%, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. Estimated remaining fees under existing contracts increased to $1.84 billion, up 20% year-over-year, indicating strong new business in RPO. The company's business referrals grew to 27.6% of consolidated fee revenue, showing progress in its 'We Are Korn Ferry' strategy. Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) returned almost $70 million to shareholders through repurchases and dividends, reflecting a balanced capital allocation strategy. The company's APAC fee revenue was flat, with moderate growth in some areas offset by declines in others. Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) expects a seasonal slowdown in the third quarter due to the year-end holidays, impacting overall business performance. Despite strong bill rates, consulting margins remained flat, indicating potential cost pressures in delivering larger engagements. The digital segment experienced a decline, att...

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2025-12-09

Korn/Ferry (KFY) Q2 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates

Zacks

Korn/Ferry (KFY) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.33 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.3 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.21 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +2.31%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this staffing company would post earnings of $1.24 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.31, delivering a surprise of +5.65%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates four times. Korn/Ferry, which belongs to the Zacks Staffing Firms industry, posted revenues of $721.7 million for the quarter ended October 2025, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.66%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $674.36 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Korn/Ferry shares have lost about 3.7% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 16.4%. While Korn/Ferry has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Korn/Ferry was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) sto...

Investor releaseQuarter not tagged2025-12-09

Korn/Ferry (KFY) Q2 Earnings: Taking a Look at Key Metrics Versus Estimates

Zacks

Korn/Ferry (KFY) reported $721.7 million in revenue for the quarter ended October 2025, representing a year-over-year increase of 7%. EPS of $1.33 for the same period compares to $1.21 a year ago. The reported revenue compares to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $702.98 million, representing a surprise of +2.66%. The company delivered an EPS surprise of +2.31%, with the consensus EPS estimate being $1.30. While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health. As these metrics influence top- and bottom-line performance, comparing them to the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated helps investors project a stock's price performance more accurately. Here is how Korn/Ferry performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts: Fee Revenue- Total Executive search: $225.95 million versus $218.4 million estimated by two analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -99.9% change. Fee Revenue: $721.7 million versus $702.97 million estimated by two analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +7% change. Fee Revenue- Digital: $91.03 million versus $92.41 million estimated by two analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -2% change. Fee Revenue- Consulting: $172.84 million versus $170.64 million estimated by two analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a +3.6% change. View all Key Company Metrics for Korn/Ferry here>>> Shares of Korn/Ferry have returned +1.2% over the past month versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +1.9% change. The stock currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), indicating that it could perform in line with the broader market in the near term. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Korn/Ferry International (KFY) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

TranscriptFY2026 Q22025-12-09

FY2026 Q2 earnings call transcript

Earnings source - 45 paragraphs
Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Korn Ferry Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded for replay purposes. We have also made available in the Investor Relations section of our website at kornferry.com a copy of the financial presentation that we will be reviewing with you today. Before I turn the call over to your host, Mr. Gary Burnison, let me first read a cautionary statement to investors. Certain statements made in the call today, such as those relating to future performance, plans and goals constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although the company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements. Actual results in future periods may differ materially from those currently expected or desired because of a number of risks and uncertainties, which are beyond the company's control. Additional information concerning such risks and uncertainties can be found in the release relating to this presentation and in the periodic and other reports filed by the company with the SEC, including the company's annual report for fiscal year 2025 and in the company's soon to be filed quarterly report for the quarter ended October 31, 2025. Also, some of the comments today may reference non-GAAP financial measures such as constant currency amounts, EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. Additional information concerning these measures, including reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is contained in the financial presentation and earnings release relating to this call, both of which are posted in the Investor Relations section of the company's website at www.kornferry.com. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Burnison. Please go ahead.

Gary Burnison

Okay. Thanks, Regina, and thank you, everybody, for joining us. In the quarter, our performance was outstanding. I'm really proud, proud of our firm, our colleagues and our purpose. We enable people and organizations to be more than. Talent is everything. It's a universal need, and that's our business. We're a household brand. We're seeing by millions of people around the world, and we have incredible permission to make an impact in the world, which is currently defined by digitization and economic fluctuation. Today, organizations require more than static strategies. They need the ability to adapt, align and act. Our firm sits at the intersection of these opportunities, unlocking the potential in people and organizations, synchronizing strategy, operations and talent to accelerate performance, fuel growth and inspire a legacy of change. At the heart of our strategy is client centricity. Here's just a few examples in the quarter where we've integrated multiple solutions to create enduring client partnerships. One of the largest commercial real estate services companies is partnering with us to secure a contract to build and manage multiple AI data centers for a major tech company. we're providing RPO and total rewards to make hundreds of hires per year, a major university in the United States is opening a new hospital, and we're developing a comprehensive talent strategy to bring in hundreds of physicians and other professionals. A global consumer company with over 150,000 employees were assessing and developing leaders to ensure they're equipped to drive enterprise-wide digital and AI transformation. I mean those are just a few examples, and it's clearly now today, the larger, the more recurring relationships we have, really pays off for, not only our clients, but our shareholders. And now as we begin another calendar year, we're going to lean even more heavily into our collective We Are Korn Ferry strategy. Our go-to-market efforts, our marketing initiatives and our solution orientation in all of our organization is indexing more heavily into 1 business, not 5 segments. Clearly, the strategy is working, driving resilience and durability in our business. And I'm really confident that we are incredibly well-positioned employees for a tremendous 2026. With that, I'll turn it over to Bob. Bob, go ahead.

Robert Rozek

Great. Thanks, Gary. Good afternoon and good morning, depending on where you're at. In the second quarter, our financial and operating results continue to improve. We posted our fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth, which serves as a continuing proof that the intentional execution of our strategy to transform Korn Ferry is succeeding. In today's uncertain business environment. There has never been a greater need for talent, and that's exactly where we come in. We've built an organization to fulfill the comprehensive talent needs of our clients. We deliberately expanded our areas of expertise in the human capital solutions where our people, enabled by technology, and our foundational assets are uniquely positioned to help our clients drive their business performance. We continue to evolve the integration of our colleagues and solutions to enhance how we address our clients' challenges in changing needs. Now looking more broadly at the company's financial performance over the quarter, we continue to demonstrate our ability to successfully execute our strategy in a low visibility and uncertain business environment. We have been on a deliberate journey to build a more durable and stable base of fee revenue and profitability, and at the same time, provide additional value and impact for our clients. And now with the go live of our new talent suite technology platform this past November, we are in even better position to leverage our foundational assets to lean into our collective go-to-market efforts as a holistic talent partner, as Gary mentioned, as one business. In addition to the detailed results found in our posted earnings presentation, I'm going to go through a few company-wide and solution-specific highlights in the -- for the second quarter. Our business referrals grew to 27.6% of consolidated fee revenue, up approximately 250 basis points, both year-over-year and quarter sequential, demonstrating early signs of progress driven by our We Are Korn Ferry go-to-market evolution. Estimated remaining fees under existing contracts increased to $1.84 billion, and it's up 20% year-over-year, led by strong new business in RPO. Executive Search fee revenue remained strong, growing 10%, it's the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. Professional Search and interim fee revenue was up 17% year-over-year with growth in both professional search, plus 7%, and interim, including the Trilogy acquisition at 24%. Our subscription and licensed new business continued on a positive trajectory, growing to 43% of Digital's new business for the quarter. And last, hourly bill rates in Consulting and Interim remained strong at $460 and $142 an hour, respectively. Now I'm going to turn to overall company results. Consolidated fee revenue grew 7% year-over-year to $722 million. Earnings and profitability also remained strong. Adjusted EBITDA grew $8 million or 7% year-over-year to $125 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was strong at 17.3% and adjusted diluted earnings per share grew $0.12 or 10% year-over-year to $1.33. Total company new business, excluding RPO, grew 4% year-over-year, led by strength in EMEA, and RPO delivered $253 million of new business in the quarter, was 16% coming from new logos and 84% from renewals. As I mentioned previously, estimated remaining fees under existing contracts at the end of the second quarter were $1.84 billion, of which we estimate approximately 57% or $1 billion will be recognized within the next year, with remaining 43% or close to $800 million estimated to be recognized beyond the next 4 quarters. Turning to our regional results. Fee revenue in the Americas was up 3% year-over-year, led by executive search and RPO. EMEA fee revenue continued to be strong, growing 20% year-over-year, with growth in Executive Search, Professional Search and Interim, Consulting and Digital. APAC fee revenue was flat with moderate growth in Exec Search and Pro Search and interim offset by slight declines in RPO Consulting and Digital. And finally, our capital allocation during the quarter remained balanced. Through the end of the second quarter, we returned almost $70 million to shareholders through combined repurchases and dividends, and we invested $43 million in capital expenditures focused on talent suite, productivity tools and other solution and product enhancements. Now turning to our outlook for the third quarter of fiscal '26. Assuming no further changes in worldwide geopolitical conditions, economic conditions, financial markets and foreign exchange rates, and recognizing the year-end holidays, we expect fee revenue in the third quarter of fiscal '26 will range from $680 million to $694 million, our adjusted EBITDA margin to range from approximately 17.2% to 17.4% and our consolidated adjusted diluted earnings per share to range from $1.19 to $1.25. And finally, we expect our GAAP diluted earnings per share in the third quarter to range from $1.15 to $1.21. I'm excited about the next step in our go-to-market evolution. We Are Korn Ferry with a real focus on becoming the holistic talent partner for our clients. At the same time, we remain committed to controlling what we can, leaning into identified growth opportunities and driving operational excellence. We remain well positioned to drive long-term, profitable and sustainable growth by using our foundational assets to deliver expanding and differentiated solutions to our clients. I'm more confident and excited than I have ever been about what this company can become. With that, we would be glad to answer any questions you may have.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question will come from the line of Josh Chan with UBS.

Joshua Chan

Good results. It seems like the Executive Search business continues to perform well. Could you talk about where you're seeing the sources of strength within North America and how you think about the business in light of slower job market velocity, but you're still posting pretty good results?

Gary Burnison

Well, we think of the company as one business, number one, not 5 segments, and that's what the new We Are Korn Ferry strategy is really about. And when you look at the different solutions, for example, Executive Search, you're seeing really significant growth worldwide in just about every market. And I think that is a combination of factors. Number one, a realization on the part of companies that what got you here won't get you there. And that requires different leadership skills today than 5 years ago. You've also got the issue of the retirement of baby boomers, what I've called Peak 65, where in America, for example, you've got 4 million or so Americans that are retiring over the next several years. You also have a situation where people are looking at their life -- and most of the people that are leading C-suites were leading C-suites in COVID 5 years ago. And I think there's a lot of people that are striking a different work-life balance. So I think it's all of those factors combined that are leading to the strength in that solution as well as our strategy. And as Bob talked about, this quarter in terms of business referrals with inside the firm, I mean, it was almost -- I think it was an all-time high at almost 28%. And I think that shows the strength of combining IP with tremendous people and a worldwide reach.

Joshua Chan

And on that point about the referrals, could you give us a sense on where it has been historically over a long period of time? And then where you think that could go as you focus more on this strategy?

Gary Burnison

Well, we would like to see it go to a good 35%. It's been 25%, 26%. I mean, generally, it's been up and to the right over time. And we think there's opportunity. I mean we just finished -- we have 1,800 partners and principals that are responsible for originating business. And we just completed getting together in person, 50% of them, not 900, and we're going to do the next 900 over the next several months. And I'll tell you that it was energizing. And it's clear to me that we're only -- we're using 10% of our potential. There's no doubt about it. But we have to pivot the organization from segments. We don't have 5 businesses. We have 1 business and 5 solutions. And I think we're going to lean even more heavily into that in 2026.

Operator

Our next question will come from the line of Trevor Romeo with William Blair.

Trevor Romeo

I kind of -- I guess I just wanted to follow up on that last line of questioning, but maybe a slightly different way. It did look like, I think some of your placement type solutions seem like they improved either sequentially or the growth year-over-year accelerated a bit, thinking Pro Search interim, especially on a sequential basis for interim, RPO, new business wins. It sounds like the cross referrals and we are Korn Ferry strategy is driving some of that. But I also wanted to ask if -- is some of that you're starting to see any turn in the kind of willingness among the client base to hire more or spend more? Or is it mostly just those cross-sell efforts that are driving some improvement there?

Gary Burnison

Well, we think the strategy is clearly working. I mean there's no doubt about it. Just look at the last 8 quarters in what I consider a labor recession. And the guide in the next quarter is implies 3% growth and you look at some of the other competitors, and it would be negative 3% or 4%. So I think it's clearly the strategy is absolutely working. And you're right, we have seen both in the Pro Search and the interim solutions an uptick sequentially call it, 7% or 8%. I mean, take the interim solution where we didn't have that solution just 5 years ago. And the last investment that we made there was in the U.K. and that solution and that integration within EMEA has been a home run. I mean it's -- and our market opportunity in EMEA around that solution is just -- it's incredible. So yes, we've definitely seen some green shoots here. The RPO solution, a killer quarter of new business. A good part of that was renewals, but that shows the quality of our IP and the use of in that solution. So I'd step back and say, since we last spoke, has the market really changed? No, it really hasn't changed. And we'll see what the Fed does here over the next couple of days.

Trevor Romeo

Okay. So I guess not that much change in the macro. Maybe just for my follow-up on the consulting solution, I just wanted to ask, I guess, when you look at the bill rates up 10% year-over-year, what would you say about the mix of, I guess, services within that and the mix of senior versus junior consultants, whether either of those dynamics is sort of boosting the bill rate growth and just the content for that question. I think one of the narratives out there is that AI is going to put a bunch of pressure on consulting businesses from a pricing perspective, and you don't appear to be seeing that. So I would just love to get your take on those drivers of the bill rate.

Gary Burnison

Well, I think it speaks to the integration of the overall firm and delivering bigger, more impactful engagements at scale. And when you look in this last quarter, a big driver there was org strategy. And it's really a recognition. It's not a question of companies just, hell, we're going to use AI and that's going to eliminate 15% of the workforce. That's the wrong approach. I mean it's really around how do you look at your overall skill set and how do you look at your workforce. And so part of the growth there in consulting is org strategy and really taking a more holistic approach at what technology means to your company over the next 3 to 5 years. And I'm not even so sure that bill rate is actually the yardstick that we should be measuring going forward. It's really around the impact that you have. And so yes, the bill rate has climbed -- I mean, over the last several years, that bill rate has climbed from probably the high $200 an hour to where it is today at almost $500 an hour. And you look at the new business of the firm as a whole and you see that in the consulting solution, it's like 40% of the new business are big engagements, over $500,000. I mean it's absolutely been a transformation. And I think looking at that solution quite candidly, we have substantial opportunity in North America. And that's something that we're getting after, and we've been going at it over the last 2 quarters with respect to talent and bringing different talent into that solution in North America.

Robert Rozek

Travis, this is Bob. Just maybe a little bit more color on that. Gary mentioned engagement over 500 or about 40% -- over $500,000 or about 40% of the new business in consulting. And just last quarter, it was 37% -- so again, just providing further proof points that the strategy is working, and we're definitely selling larger, more transformational engagements.

Operator

Our next question will come from the line of George Tong with Goldman Sachs.

Sami Nasir

This is Sami on for George. In Exec Search, we typically see a step down in 3Q and then a ramp in 4Q. With the current strength in new business, should we expect this year's seasonality to look different? Is the new business strong enough to offset the usual softness in the third quarter?

Gary Burnison

Our guide doesn't imply that. I really think that clients, the way the holiday season falls, I mean, we're -- I think you're going to lose 2 weeks. And I think that's going to be across the board. It's going to certainly impact the entire business. And so that is factored into our guidance. So I wouldn't -- we haven't forecasted that. Could it happen? Yes, it could happen, but that's not in the forecast.

Sami Nasir

Got it. And just on consulting. So build rates were strong, but margins were flat. Could you just talk about how much runway is left in that mix shift towards higher value engagement? In other words, how much more of a lift can you get on build rates? And is there a higher cost of delivering these larger value engagements that cap your margin upside in consulting?

Gary Burnison

No, no. There's substantial opportunity with that solution. If I dial back -- this is my 95th quarterly earnings call. And when I dial back the clock, what you would know is that years ago, we were essentially selling vitamins. And today, we're in the health and wellness business. I mean it's really gone from very, very small transactions that were largely around assessment. And it's moved from that to now what Bob just talked about, where almost 40% of the new business was around larger engagements. So I think there's plenty of opportunity there and upside. And we just have to balance utilizing all of our IP and bringing in talent to continue to drive that business towards health and wellness.

Robert Rozek

Yes. And this is Bob. And the one thing I would add to that is the -- if you think about the current environment, the uncertainties and somewhat chaotic, it's actually a good thing for us, right, because clients are trying to figure out how to operate in a new and different world, and they're turning to us. And that's where you see like our org Strategy business, for example, being very strong today. And those are the larger, again, more transformational engagements.

Operator

Our next question will come from the line of Tobey Sommer with Truist.

Tobey Sommer

In the Search business, could you maybe describe from a high-level perspective, any kind of time savings and efficiencies that you're able to squeeze out using various AI tools throughout the process? And is it, in fact, shortening the amount of time to fulfill a search? Or are customers kind of filling that savings by requesting more of you and therefore, the time is equivalent to where it used to be?

Gary Burnison

No, it's definitely more efficient today. A small part of that is clearly technology. But I think the bigger driver of it is the way work is getting done today with COVID. I mean just last night, I was on a very, very high-profile confidential search, and we were on Zoom. And so I think that COVID has changed everything, how we consume and how we produce and even how we work. Now with the technology, clearly, with AI, that's had a bigger, much bigger impact on, say, our RPO business that Bob could talk about. But that's definitely -- that for sure, had an impact there. We think there is the further opportunity in the Executive Search business, but I think it's going to be somewhat limited. We use our IP in the search solution, taking a look at not only the outward leadership style, but traits and drivers and all that. There's definitely some opportunity there. But it's going to be more of a high-touch solution for sure, no doubt about it.

Robert Rozek

And Tobey, just to maybe elaborate a bit on RPO. We've actually been using AI within that solution for a number of years now. And I think that's part of what differentiates us in the marketplace. And what we've -- the area where it's really become much more predominant is in the -- what I would call the research space, so candidate identification sourcing and so on. But we've been doing it for probably 3 or 4 years now using AI in that process. And we actually have a tool, they call it KF Nimble Recruit, which is "recruiterless recruiting", but it's really focused on candidate identification and sourcing.

Tobey Sommer

Okay. And then I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit more on the sunsetting of a system digital and sort of those accounting elements with -- now that Talent Suite has launched. I wasn't exactly sure. Maybe you could unpack that from a business perspective and an accounting perspective.

Gary Burnison

Tobey, could you repeat that again? Could you repeat that question?

Tobey Sommer

Could you talk about the sunsetting of the system and the accounting impact and maybe why we're doing it and if it relates to the launch of Talent?

Gary Burnison

Bob, you want to?

Robert Rozek

Yes, I can take that. Yes. So Tobey, we -- like I said in my remarks, we launched Talent Suite. It was on November 17. And we've talked about this over time, where our foundational assets historically sat in an older system that wasn't quite as well connected different repositories for different parts of our data sets and so on. What the Talent suite did was a couple of things. It brought everything together in one single repository. So there's a single sign-on, which makes it easier for somebody using, whether it's our consultants or a client directly using our foundational assets. So you have a single sign-on. It gives you the ability to move across the data sets unencumbered where in the past, you would log into a repository, log out, log into a different repository log out. And then the third thing it does is the structure of our data has all been harmonized, which really gives us the ability to work across our data sets to provide analytics, unique and differentiated insights when you think about all of the data sets we have, whether it's assessments, pay data, success profiles, the behavioral science that sits at the center of everything we do. The Talent Suite houses all that in a much more effective and efficient way for people to consume it, again, whether it's our consultants or a client directly. And so with the old system that we had, we sunset that with the -- with Talent Suite going live. And last quarter was the largest quarter. And the way that we did it is we had to make a decision to sunset it. We did that back in July. And so the way the accounting worked, it required us to just accelerate the remaining undepreciated cost of -- we used to call it the Talent Hub, but we accelerated that depreciation, and that's what you saw in the quarter.

Tobey Sommer

Okay. Okay. I hope -- that makes sense. What are your expectations for the financial impact of the release of talent suite?

Gary Burnison

Well, we think it's going to be incredibly important for the organization. And as I say, as one business. You've now -- clients have the ability to actually go between rooms and license all of our IP, which is immense from comp data on 30 million people to org strategy, almost 15,000 success profiles. So I think it's going to be incredibly positive. Now it's going to take us some time for sure. We just launched this. But the reality is we have thousands of clients that are choosing one thing off the menu. And there's people that are just ordering dessert and people that are just getting appetizers, and this gives us the ability to go to them and provide the entire menu. And as Bob said, it's the ability to provide really deep analytics across from how somebody is rated to how they're compensated. I mean we have a phenomenal opportunity here around, for example, paid transparency. And in the EU and in the United States even, but in the EU, if you have more than 250 employees in a country, you're going to have to make a lot of disclosures around paid transparency. And we've calculated that total market opportunity to be a couple of billion dollars. And look, if we could get 10%, 20% of that, that's enormous. So we've got a major -- and what Talent Suite does is it enables -- because to be able to do that, you have to have a job architecture. And we do have that as part of our IP. And so there is an opportunity to use the Talent Suite to combine the job architecture with pay and then going in and doing an analysis of pay equity and pay transparency.

Robert Rozek

And Tobey, maybe just a little bit more context to give you an example that I use quite often. So in the old world, if you went in and took an assessment, you have to log into that database, if you will, take the assessment, get the results you log out, then you have to go over to where our development content sits. -- you'd have to log into that, find the content and then develop yourself. Under Talent Suite, you go in, you just sign in once, you take the assessment, you get your results and Talent Suite delivers the development content that you need, not just delivering it to you, but through the work of our Korn Ferry Institute to actually prioritize in a way where the first thing you do has the greatest impact on company and on your performance and then second, third, fourth and fifth and so on. And so for us, it's -- again, it's a much more effective and efficient way for people to consume our foundational assets. But the key is all the assets that Gary talked about, being able to bring them all together in a way that's easy, effective and efficient is really what we're excited about.

Tobey Sommer

Last question for me. Have you seen any change in behavior since you're only public agreed to go private and maybe have or haven't, do you expect any?

Gary Burnison

You kind of cut out there. I heard part of it was around a competitor, but I didn't get the essence of the question.

Tobey Sommer

Could you talk about the sunsetting of the system and the accounting impact and maybe why we're doing it and if it relates to the launch of Talent?

Gary Burnison

No, no, no, not at all. I mean that's -- it's a great brand. And what these -- there's 5 or so principally executive search firms, and they all have an opportunity here. They have incredible permission. But no, I haven't seen anything.

Operator

Our final question will come from the line of Alex Sinatra with Robert W. Baird.

Alexander Sinatra

This is Alex Sinatra on for Mark Marcon. I was just wondering, obviously, from a growth perspective, things have been going well and seeing broad-based progress. But I wanted to ask on the digital side, there was a decline a bit. So I was wondering what drove that. And then looking forward, if you could speak on the pace of new sales in that business and what to expect there as well as in your client conversations, like what are your existing customers indicating going forward as well as the new people that you're bringing on?

Gary Burnison

Well, I think a couple of things. Number one, we made a purposeful decision several quarters ago that we had to get the entire firm behind the monetization of our IP. including our consulting solution. And so what we've done over several quarters is we've actually reduced the number of sellers in that solution by about 35%, a kind of massive, massive change. And where we're pivoting to is a couple of fold. One is around the entire firm being able to talk about how an organization separates great from good using our IP. And the other is now a pivot for that solution to get more enterprise sellers and consultants. And so some quarters ago, we had a workforce in that solution that were deep subject matter experts. And where we're pivoting that is to get a sales force that is more enterprise oriented. And so that's impacted for sure, the top line performance of that solution very, very purposefully. And so over the next several quarters, what you're going to see is us continuing now to add more enterprise solution capability in "digital". And then the other thing is that in this quarter, we had a couple of very big transformational deals that we thought were going to hit in the second quarter. And actually, they got postponed to the quarter that we're in right now, one of which has been secured. And those are multimillion dollar engagements. And on top of that, you've seen us pivot towards more licensing kind of arrangements. So those are the factors in that part of Korn Ferry's business.

Alexander Sinatra

Great. And then I was just wondering on the new RPO contracts, if you could talk about where those are coming from and how many were from clients switching maybe from other firms as opposed to companies that are new to the RPO side. And then as well, how many of those were from like cross-sell motions given the new We Are Korn Ferry movement?

Gary Burnison

Well, the majority were around renewals, which we think is unbelievable testimony to the quality of what we're doing. And they were from -- they're very, very much part of our house accounts. We call them marquee and diamond clients, and those represent 40% of the overall revenue of the firm. And in fact, those marquee and Diamond accounts have outperformed the portfolio. And I think if you look at them, the growth in those clients has been something like 10% compared to 3% or 4% growth. So it's been in industrial and healthcare. Those have been the 2 areas that have probably seen the most uptick in contributing to those RPO wins. So I would say 3/4 of it was renewals of big, big health care and industrial companies and 25% new logos.

Robert Rozek

Yes. This is Bob. Just to give you maybe a bit more color on the business referrals. If you go back over time, roughly 50% of the fee revenues in RPO came from a referral from outside of that particular solution.

Operator

And it appears there are no further questions, Mr. Burnison.

Gary Burnison

Okay, Regina. Listen, thank you, everybody, for listening. It's a holiday season and certainly have a wonderful holiday, and we look forward to speaking to you in the new year. Thanks, everybody. Bye-bye.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this conference call will be available for replay for 1 week starting today running through the day, December 16, 2025, ending at midnight. You may access the Echo replay service by dialing (800) 770-2030 and entering the access code 2574781 followed by the pound key. Additionally, the replay will be available for playback at the company's website, www.kornferry.com in the Investor Relations section. This concludes our call today. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

As of 2026-05-30 • Updated weeklySource: Earnings sourceIngestion runbook