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Global executive-search and organizational-consulting firm helping companies recruit, develop and pay their leaders.
Global executive-search and organizational-consulting firm helping companies recruit, develop and pay their leaders.
Executive search is paid as a retainer, a fee agreed up front, typically a portion of the hire's first-year pay and paid in stages as the search proceeds. Consulting and recruitment outsourcing add project and per-hire fees, and subscription software adds recurring income. The 2015 purchase of Hay Group built the consulting side.
Moat: narrow (brand, installed base). Decades-long C-suite relationships and brand trust are hard for smaller search firms to match.
Headquarters: Los Angeles, California, US · Founded: 1969 · Employees: 8,965
Size Korn Ferry (KFY) is a United States Industrials company (Personnel Services) with a market value of $4.11B, the 1332nd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $75.38 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 11.2%, against +32.5% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 2nd lowest of 12 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 6.9% over the last twelve months (peer median +0.1%); the operating margin is 13.4% (peer median 2.8%).
Valuation It trades at 13.0× forward earnings against a peer median of 14.6× (4th cheapest of 11).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 2% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +10%, so the hurdle is -8 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 7.3 points above its cost of capital (10.4% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $1.33B at 31 Jul 2026, up 17% on a year earlier — 0.4 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Short interest Short interest is 3.0% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 9 Dec 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.99B | $2.94B | $2.76B | $2.80B | $2.86B |
| Revenue growth | — | +6% | -1% | -2% | — |
| Gross profit | $649M | $622M | $607M | $541M | $627M |
| EBITDA | $498M | $468M | $449M | $381M | $446M |
| Net income | $276M | $274M | $243M | $166M | $205M |
| Free cash flow | $319M | $324M | $302M | $229M | $274M |
| Capital expenditure | $85.2M | $89.9M | $62.5M | $55.1M | $70.4M |
| Total debt | $593M | $596M | $571M | $580M | $566M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korn Ferry KFY | $4.11B | +11% | +7% | 13% | 13.0× | 2.0% |
| Marsh McLennan MRSH | $97.4B | +25% | +8% | 24% | 18.2× | n/a |
| Willis Towers Watson WTW | $30.3B | +29% | +5% | 24% | 15.2× | n/a |
| ManpowerGroup MAN | $2.07B | +49% | +7% | 2% | 10.3× | -0.4% |
| Randstad RAND.AS | $8.14B | +69% | 0% | 3% | 15.5× | 1.1% |
| Adecco ADEN.SW | $4.82B | +24% | 0% | 2% | 10.3× | -3.5% |
| Hays HAS.L | $1.24B | +75% | -3% | 1% | 33.0× | 18.3% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | KFY | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +3.4% | -0.5% | 5th highest of 12 |
| 6-month return | +11.2% | +32.5% | 2nd lowest of 12 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -13.9% | -13.5% | 6th lowest of 12 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +6.9% | +0.1% | 6th highest of 12 |
| Operating margin | 13.4% | 2.8% | 3rd highest of 12 |
| Forward P/E | 13.0× | 14.6× | 4th cheapest of 11 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 2.0% | -0.7% | 4th most demanding of 11 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +10.1% | +6.5% | 6th highest of 11 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -8.1 pp | -2.6 pp | 5th least demanding of 11 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +7.3 pp | +1.9 pp | 5th highest of 11 |
| EV / EBITDA | 7.8× | 9.1× | 3rd cheapest of 6 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -0.5× | -0.1× | 5th least indebted of 11 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korn Ferry KFY | United States | $4.11B | +11% | +7% | 13% | 13.0× | 2.0% | +10.1% |
| Persol 2181.T | Japan | $4.11B | +22% | +10% | 4% | 13.7× | -10.3% | +10.4% |
| Robert Half RHI | United States | $4.28B | +55% | -3% | 1% | 23.5× | 26.7% | +1.0% |
| Adecco ADEN.SW | Switzerland | $4.82B | +24% | 0% | 2% | 10.3× | -3.5% | +0.7% |
| Jinhai Medical Technology 2225.HK | Hong Kong | $3.02B | -6% | +75% | -17% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Randstad RAND.AS | Netherlands | $8.14B | +69% | 0% | 3% | 15.5× | 1.1% | +2.2% |
| ManpowerGroup MAN | United States | $2.07B | +49% | +7% | 2% | 10.3× | -0.4% | 0.0% |
| SMS 2175.T | Japan | $1.31B | +33% | +8% | 11% | 31.1× | 19.2% | +12.5% |
| Upwork UPWK | United States | $1.26B | +14% | -1% | 18% | 8.9× | -7.1% | +16.1% |
| Hays HAS.L | United Kingdom | $1.24B | +75% | -3% | 1% | 33.0× | 18.3% | +2.6% |
| JAC Recruitment 2124.T | Japan | $1.21B | +34% | +12% | 26% | 19.3× | -1.0% | +16.4% |
| Open Up 2154.T | Japan | $1.11B | +12% | -11% | 10% | 13.1× | -6.5% | +11.1% |
Korn Ferry reported $1.33B of remaining performance obligations at 31 Jul 2026, up 17% from a year earlier and up 3% from the previous quarter. That is 0.4 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 1.05.