Robert Half: A Turn in the Alley

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Recruitment firms. They’re the canaries in the coal mine, or in this case, the pulse of the hiring manager. When Robert Half International’s (RHI +26.25%) stock jumped today, it wasn’t just a number. It was a signal. A faint one, maybe, but a signal nonetheless. The market noticed. They always do.

The Break in the Case

The chart tells a story. A tough few years. A slow bleed. But the latest earnings report? A flicker of something different. An inflection point, they call it. I call it a chance. A long shot, sure, but this stock has a history. It moves in cycles, like a gambler chasing a losing streak.

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Revenue and earnings were still down, year over year. That’s the bad news. But CEO Keith Waddell mentioned something interesting: sequential growth. Positive growth, for the first time in three years. A small victory, perhaps, but in this game, you take what you can get. He also said the momentum carried into January. That’s a whisper worth listening to.

Waddell’s talk about small businesses could be a good sign for a company like UPS. They’re betting big on the little guys, and that market is a fickle one. It’s a gamble, but sometimes, you have to roll the dice.

The Long Haul

Don’t expect a miracle. Waddell himself said they’re not looking at year-over-year growth until the third quarter of 2025. That’s a long wait. But for those who play the cyclical game, it’s about spotting the turn. The first hint of spring after a long winter.

If Robert Half confirms this momentum through the first half of next year, the stock could see a substantial rise in 2026. It would also suggest something else: a healthy economy. And that, my friend, is something worth watching. The kind of thing that makes you think, maybe, just maybe, things are starting to look up. But don’t get comfortable. In this town, nothing ever stays good for long.

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2026-01-30 21:32