Head-To-Head Comparison: Research Solutions (NASDAQ:RSSS) and Robert Half (NYSE:RHI)

Robert Half (NYSE:RHI) and Research Solutions (NASDAQ:RSSS) are both industrials companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Robert Half and Research Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Robert Half	3	4	3	0	2.00
Research Solutions	0	2	3	0	2.60

Robert Half currently has a consensus price target of $34.75, indicating a potential upside of 1.84%. Research Solutions has a consensus price target of $3.83, indicating a potential upside of 88.83%. Given Research Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Research Solutions is more favorable than Robert Half.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

92.4% of Robert Half shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.6% of Research Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of Robert Half shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 9.5% of Research Solutions shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Robert Half has a beta of 0.84, suggesting that its share price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Research Solutions has a beta of 0.77, suggesting that its share price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Robert Half and Research Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Robert Half	2.17%	9.18%	4.08%
Research Solutions	5.84%	15.55%	6.22%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Robert Half and Research Solutions”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Robert Half	$5.38 billion	0.65	$132.99 million	$1.15	29.67
Research Solutions	$48.31 million	1.42	$2.82 million	$0.09	22.56

Robert Half has higher revenue and earnings than Research Solutions. Research Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Robert Half, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Research Solutions beats Robert Half on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Robert Half

Robert Half Inc. provides talent solutions and business consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through Contract Talent Solutions, Permanent Placement Talent Solutions, and Protiviti segments. The Contract Talent Solutions segment provides contract engagement professionals in the fields of finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal and administrative, and customer support. This segment markets its services to clients and employment candidates through both national and local advertising activities, including radio, digital advertising, job boards, alliance partners, and events. The Permanent Placement Talent Solutions segment engages in the placement of full-time accounting, finance, and tax and accounting operations personnel. The Protiviti segment offers consulting services in the areas of internal audit, technology consulting, risk, and compliance consulting. It offers it services under the Robert Half brand name. The company was formerly known as Robert Half International Inc. and changed its name to Robert Half Inc. in July 2023. Robert Half Inc. was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.

About Research Solutions

Research Solutions, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides research cloud-based software-as-a-service software platform and related services to corporate, academic, government and individual researchers in the United States, Europe, and internationally. It provides Discover platform that facilitates search discovery across virtually all scientific, technical, and medical (STM) articles available, including free basic search solutions and advanced search tools, which include the Resolute.ai and scite.ai products, a tools that allows for searching and identifying relevant research and find insights in other datasets adjacent to STM content, such as clinical trial, patent, life science and medtech regulatory information, competitor and technology landscape insights in addition to searching the customer’s internal datasets. The company also offers Article Galaxy, a solution that allows research organizations to load their entitlements, consisting of subscriptions, discount or token packages, and their existing library of articles. In addition, it provides Manage platform, a references solution that allows users to access the article inside the platform including setting up personal folders or team folders and allows researchers to markup and take notes on the articles in a supported browser on a desktop or tablet. Further, the company’s platform facilitates the sale of published STM content sold as individual articles. The company was formerly known as Derycz Scientific, Inc. and changed its name to Research Solutions, Inc. in March 2013. Research Solutions, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Henderson, Nevada.