Barrett Business Services, Inc.
- Open
- 40.30
- Day high
- 40.76
- Day low
- 39.62
- Prev close
- 40.33
- Volume
- 234K
- Mkt cap
- $984M
- P/E (TTM)
- 25.4
- EPS (TTM)
- $1.58
- P/B
- 4.8
- P/S
- 0.8
- Yield
- 0.80%
- Per share
- $0.32
- ▼Insiders net selling -$758K over the last 3 months (1 open-market buy, 4 sales)
- 🏛Institutions mixed (13F)
Barrett Business Services, Inc. (BBSI) is a Industrials company listed on NASDAQ. The stock is down 8% over the past year. Over the trailing 3 months, insiders filed 1 open-market buy and 4 sales (SEC Form 4).
Barrett Business Services, Inc. (BBSI) financials & analyst ratings
Fundamentals (TTM)
Analyst consensus · 2 analysts
Source: exchange market data + company filings. Figures are trailing-twelve-month or as most recently reported. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
BBSI earnings date, history & EPS estimates
| Report date | EPS est | EPS actual | Surprise | Revenue | Rev. surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 2026 | $-0.15 | $-0.13 | +13.3% | $307M | +0.1% |
| Feb 25, 2026 | $0.64 | $0.64 | +0.0% | $321M | +7.1% |
| Nov 5, 2025 | $0.81 | $0.79 | -2.5% | $319M | -1.4% |
| May 7, 2025 | $-0.13 | $-0.04 | +69.2% | $293M | +2.3% |
| Feb 26, 2025 | $0.62 | $0.63 | +1.6% | $305M | +3.8% |
| Jul 31, 2024 | $0.58 | $0.62 | +6.9% | $280M | +1.7% |
| May 1, 2024 | $-0.08 | $-0.01 | +87.5% | $266M | -1.4% |
| Feb 28, 2024 | $0.47 | $0.54 | +14.9% | $277M | -1.6% |
| Nov 1, 2023 | $0.60 | $0.67 | +11.7% | $273M | -2.8% |
| Aug 2, 2023 | $0.46 | $0.62 | +34.8% | $265M | -3.2% |
| May 3, 2023 | $0.01 | $0.03 | +211.5% | $255M | -2.1% |
| Mar 1, 2023 | $0.41 | $0.41 | +0.0% | $272M | -0.9% |
BBSI insider trading activity (SEC Form 4)
| Date | Insider | Type | Shares | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 7, 2026 | MEEKER ANTHONYdirector | Sell | 12,000 | $37.85 |
| Jul 7, 2026 | Potts James Rofficer: EVP Gen Counsel & Secretary | Sell | 3,487 | $37.55 |
| Jul 7, 2026 | Potts James Rofficer: EVP Gen Counsel & Secretary | Sell | 1,802 | $38.00 |
| Jul 7, 2026 | Potts James Rofficer: EVP Gen Counsel & Secretary | Sell | 3,490 | $38.00 |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Harris Anthony Jofficer: Executive VP & CFO | Tax | 1,625 | $37.73 |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Harris Anthony Jofficer: Executive VP & CFO | Option | 4,352 | — |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Harris Anthony Jofficer: Executive VP & CFO | Option | 4,128 | — |
| Jul 2, 2026 | CARLEY THOMAS Jdirector | Grant | 2,782 | — |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Moradi Carla Adirector | Grant | 2,782 | — |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Price Vincent Pdirector | Grant | 2,782 | — |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Blotz Geraldofficer: Executive VP & COO | Option | 6,892 | — |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Blotz Geraldofficer: Executive VP & COO | Tax | 1,371 | $37.73 |
| Jul 2, 2026 | McReynolds Alexandra Morehousedirector | Grant | 2,782 | — |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Blotz Geraldofficer: Executive VP & COO | Tax | 2,752 | $37.73 |
| Jul 2, 2026 | Blotz Geraldofficer: Executive VP & COO | Option | 5,212 | — |
Source: BBSI SEC Form 4 filings, latest Jul 7, 2026. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
See the full BBSI insider & 13F page →Barrett Business Services, Inc. company profile
Overview
Barrett Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:BBSI) is a professional employer organization (PEO) and staffing services company founded in 1965 and headquartered in Vancouver, Washington. The company went public in 1993 and has evolved from a traditional staffing firm into a comprehensive business management solutions provider. BBSI primarily serves small and mid-sized businesses across the United States, offering integrated human resource outsourcing, payroll administration, and workers' compensation services through a co-employment model.
Business
Barrett Business Services operates in the professional employer organization (PEO) industry, which provides comprehensive human resource outsourcing solutions to small and mid-sized businesses. A PEO creates a co-employment relationship with client companies, meaning both the PEO and the client share certain employer responsibilities for the client's workforce. The company's core offering is professional employer services, where BBSI enters into client service agreements to assume responsibility for payroll processing, payroll tax administration, workers' compensation coverage, and various HR administrative functions for the client's existing employees. This allows small businesses to access enterprise-level HR capabilities, benefits, and compliance expertise that would otherwise be too expensive or complex to manage internally. BBSI's business consists of two main segments: 1. Professional Employer Organization (PEO) Services - This represents approximately 95% of total revenue. Under this model, BBSI becomes the employer of record for payroll and tax purposes while the client company maintains day-to-day management of employees. The company charges fees based on a percentage of gross payroll billings. 2. Staffing and Recruiting Services - This segment accounts for roughly 5% of revenue and includes temporary staffing, contract staffing, direct placement services, and long-term on-site management. This traditional staffing model involves placing workers at client locations for specific periods or projects. The company has also recently launched BBSI Benefits, a health insurance offering that provides medical plans to PEO clients through partnerships with carriers like Kaiser Permanente. This product generates revenue through reseller fees and administrative fee expansion without taking on insurance underwriting risk.
Revenue model
Barrett Business Services generates revenue primarily through a fee-based model tied to client payroll volume. For PEO services, the company charges clients a percentage of their gross payroll billings, typically ranging from 3-4% of total payroll. This creates a recurring revenue stream that scales with client growth and wage inflation. The company's paying customers are small and mid-sized businesses across various industries including electronics manufacturing, light manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, food processing, telecommunications, construction, and professional services. These businesses typically have 10-200 employees and seek to outsource complex HR functions to focus on their core operations. Revenue streams include: 1. PEO service fees based on percentage of gross payroll billings (approximately 95% of revenue), 2. Staffing service fees for temporary and contract placements (approximately 5% of revenue), 3. Benefits administration fees from the BBSI Benefits health insurance offering, and 4. Additional service fees for specialized HR products like applicant tracking systems. Several factors influence the company's margins. Positive margin drivers include wage inflation (which increases gross billings without proportional cost increases), client employee count growth, favorable workers' compensation claim experience, and expansion of higher-margin ancillary services like benefits administration. Negative margin pressures come from workers' compensation rate increases, unfavorable claim experience, competitive pricing pressure in the PEO market, increased technology investment costs, and economic downturns that reduce client hiring and payroll growth. The company mitigates workers' compensation risk through fully insured policies, transferring underwriting risk to insurance carriers while maintaining favorable pricing through strong safety programs and claims management.
Competitive moat
Barrett Business Services operates in a moderately competitive industry with limited sustainable competitive advantages. The company's primary moat stems from high client switching costs and local market relationships. Once businesses integrate their payroll, benefits, and HR systems with a PEO, switching providers requires significant administrative effort and potential service disruption, creating natural client stickiness. BBSI maintains over 90% client retention rates, indicating strong switching costs. The company's local service model provides some differentiation in an industry increasingly dominated by large national players like ADP and Paychex. BBSI emphasizes face-to-face relationships through local account managers and regional offices, which appeals to small business owners who value personal service. This local approach helps the company compete against larger, more technology-focused competitors. However, BBSI's moat is relatively narrow. The PEO industry faces intense competition from established players with significantly larger scale, more comprehensive technology platforms, and greater resources for product development. Large competitors can offer more competitive pricing, broader service offerings, and more sophisticated technology solutions. Additionally, the company's focus on small businesses makes it vulnerable to economic downturns that disproportionately impact this market segment. The recent launch of BBSI Benefits and investments in technology platforms represent attempts to strengthen the company's competitive position, but these initiatives face well-funded competition from established players. While BBSI's local service model and strong client relationships provide some protection, the company lacks the scale advantages and technological sophistication of industry leaders, making its competitive position somewhat fragile in the long term.
Risks & safety
Barrett Business Services demonstrates a moderate margin of safety with solid financial fundamentals but some operational risks. Liquidity and Solvency: - Cash position: $32 million as of Q1 2025, down from $55 million in Q4 2024 - Debt-to-equity ratio: 0.11, indicating minimal debt burden - Current ratio: 1.21, providing adequate short-term liquidity coverage - Free cash flow: Volatile, ranging from negative $4 million to positive $50 million annually - No significant solvency concerns given minimal debt levels Valuation Metrics: - P/E ratio: Currently around 16-21x based on recent earnings - EV/EBITDA: Approximately 11-14x, reasonable for a services business - Price-to-book: 5.0x, indicating premium valuation relative to tangible assets - Graham number suggests fair value around $11-20 per share vs. current $40+ price Other Considerations: - Quarterly earnings volatility due to workers' compensation adjustments - Revenue concentration risk in Pacific Northwest and California markets - Dependence on small business economic health creates cyclical exposure - Recent negative net income in Q1 2025 raises near-term profitability concerns
Recent development
Over the past few years, Barrett Business Services has undergone significant strategic transformation focused on geographic expansion, product diversification, and technology enhancement. The company has aggressively expanded into new markets using an asset-light model, deploying 21 market development managers across regions like the East Coast, which has delivered strong 14-21% growth rates. This expansion strategy allows BBSI to test new markets without the capital commitment of physical offices, with plans to open brick-and-mortar locations in Chicago, Dallas, and Nashville. The most significant product development has been the launch of BBSI Benefits, a health insurance offering that began with a Kaiser Permanente partnership. This product has grown from 275 clients with 6,800 participants in 2023 to 640 clients with 17,500 participants by Q1 2025. The benefits offering represents a strategic shift toward higher-margin ancillary services and helps BBSI compete for white-collar clients like doctors and lawyers who were previously difficult to attract. Technology investments have become a major focus, with the company developing new products across the employee lifecycle. Recent launches include an Applicant Tracking System in March 2025 and the BBSI You learning management portal. The company has committed to continued product launches throughout 2025 as part of repositioning its technology stack to better serve larger clients and compete with more sophisticated competitors. The company has also enhanced its go-to-market strategy through expanded referral partner networks, improved digital marketing capabilities (SEO/SEM), and enhanced sales training programs. These initiatives have contributed to stronger new client acquisition, with 55% more worksite employees from new clients in Q1 2025 compared to the prior year.
BBSI company profile · for informational purposes only — not investment advice.
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