Kelly Services Inc key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Kelly Services Inc had return on equity of -23.0%, an operating margin of -1.6%, debt equal to 10.4% of equity and a current ratio of 1.54. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Kelly Services Inc: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2011Jan 2012	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Jan 2021	2021Jan 2022	2022Jan 2023	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMJun 2026
Gross margin	15.9%	16.4%	16.4%	17.8%	17.6%	18.1%	18.3%	18.7%	20.4%	19.9%	20.4%	20.1%	19.7%
Operating margin	1.0%	1.3%	1.0%	1.5%	1.6%	1.5%	−2.1%	1.0%	0.3%	0.5%	−0.3%	−1.6%	−2.3%
Net margin	1.1%	0.9%	1.1%	1.3%	0.4%	2.1%	−1.6%	3.2%	−1.3%	0.8%	−0.0%	−6.0%	−6.7%
Free-cash-flow margin	0.1%	0.7%	1.8%	0.9%	0.6%	1.5%	3.8%	1.5%	−1.8%	1.3%	0.4%	2.7%	0.5%
Return on equity	9.4%	7.1%	7.5%	7.3%	2.0%	9.3%	−5.8%	12.3%	−4.8%	2.9%	−0.0%	−23.0%	−27.9%
Return on assets	4.1%	3.2%	3.4%	3.4%	1.0%	4.7%	−2.9%	5.7%	−2.2%	1.4%	−0.0%	−10.4%	−12.1%
Asset turnover	3.60	3.43	3.15	2.57	2.35	2.23	1.79	1.80	1.79	1.84	1.66	1.74	1.79
Current ratio	1.60	1.65	1.62	1.49	1.56	1.59	1.67	1.45	1.52	1.59	1.65	1.54	1.50
Debt to equity	14.3%	8.7%	3.4%	0.9%	0.2%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.0%	19.4%	10.4%	8.0%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	17.0x	21.3x	19.0x	30.9x	28.2x	19.5x	n/m	19.4x	7.0x	7.6x	n/m	n/m	n/m
Effective tax rate	−12.7%	27.8%	−20.7%	15.7%	—	0.3%	—	18.9%	—	−46.2%	—	—	—
SG&A as % of revenue	14.9%	15.1%	15.4%	16.2%	16.0%	16.5%	17.8%	17.7%	19.0%	19.3%	18.9%	19.4%	19.4%
Capital spending as % of revenue	0.3%	0.4%	0.4%	0.5%	0.5%	0.4%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%	0.3%	0.2%	0.2%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	5.8%	79.0%	161.8%	64.5%	156.3%	73.1%	—	47.3%	—	168.7%	—	—	—
Dividends ÷ net income	6.0%	15.2%	12.9%	16.2%	51.5%	10.6%	—	2.6%	—	30.2%	—	—	—
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	102.7%	19.2%	8.0%	25.1%	33.0%	14.5%	1.8%	5.4%	—	17.9%	69.0%	9.6%	53.7%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Kelly Services Inc: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q3Sept 2024	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026
Gross margin	21.4%	20.3%	20.3%	20.5%	20.7%	18.8%	18.9%	20.4%
Operating margin	0.3%	−4.8%	0.9%	2.0%	−10.9%	−0.1%	−0.5%	1.6%
Net margin	0.1%	−2.7%	0.5%	1.7%	−16.1%	−12.3%	−0.6%	1.1%
Free-cash-flow margin	−2.2%	1.1%	1.8%	8.5%	−3.0%	2.6%	−2.5%	4.6%
Current ratio	1.61	1.65	1.64	1.52	1.59	1.54	1.59	1.50
Debt to equity	17.8%	19.4%	16.5%	5.9%	10.6%	10.4%	13.5%	8.0%
SG&A as % of revenue	21.1%	18.3%	19.4%	18.8%	20.8%	18.9%	19.2%	18.9%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

3 of 5 checks passed · June 28, 2026

What it owns · $2.3bn

Short-term assets $1.3bnLonger-term assets $984m

What it owes, and who funded it · $1.8bn

Short-term liabilities $867mShareholders' equity $982m

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.3bn of assets due within a year against $867m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
More cash than debt $24m of cash against $78m of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 8% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Five-year comparison not available. Not assessable.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $27m of operating cash flow against $78m of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of −$92m against $9m of interest.

From Kelly Services Inc's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

23 /100

Weak moat

How hard Kelly Services's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 0 / 20

Cash operating profit has been a median 2.2% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 8 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 19.7%, moving by 1.0 percentage points (standard deviation) across 9 years.
Durability 0 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 0.7%; its worst year was -2.3%.
Cash conversion 9 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 8 of 9 years, at a median 0.9% of revenue.
Discipline 20 / 20

The diluted share count fell 11.9% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.2% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: High. In this industry, the core product is information work that AI systems increasingly perform. The score above includes a 15-point deduction for that exposure (38 before it).

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Kelly Services Inc's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 26, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Kelly Services Inc.