No-Moat Randstad Faces Rough Macroeconomic Circumstances; Shares Fairly Valued

Randstad operates in the highly fragmented HR services industry, with most of its revenue derived from the temporary and permanent placement of talent. Randstad is one of three global recruitment firms, along with Adecco and Manpower, each having roughly a 5% market share. They all struggle to differentiate their services and network of clients and talent, evidenced by all averaging gross and EBIT margins of approximately 20% and 3% over the past decade.