Company Reports

We expect Recruit’s strategy to focus on expansion of its online marketplace for employment, Indeed, and to a lesser extent, expansion of its online review site for employers, Glassdoor.

Recruit Holdings Shares soared more than 20% on a 68% increase in first-quarter fiscal 2026 net profit, driven by 25% growth in the HR technology segment and a 12% increase in segment adjusted EBITDA margins.

Recruit's fiscal 2025 net profit after tax rose 22%, revenue grew 4%, operating expenses were flat. HR technology was the most important driver, with 6% revenue growth, and lifting adjusted EBITDA margin by 5 percentage points. Fiscal 2026 guidance is for another strong year. Shares rose over 25%.

We expect Recruit’s strategy to focus on expansion of its online marketplace for employment, Indeed, and to a lesser extent, expansion of its online review site for employers, Glassdoor.

We expect Recruit’s strategy to focus on expansion of its online marketplace for employment, Indeed, and to a lesser extent, expansion of its online review site for employers, Glassdoor.

Recruit Holdings' third-quarter 2025 net profit after tax was up 23% on the prior year, driven by a 5% increase in revenue and mostly flat operating expenses. Revenue from the HR technology segment drove the result and was up 9%.

We expect Recruit’s strategy to focus on expansion of its online marketplace for employment, Indeed, and to a lesser extent, expansion of its online review site for employers, Glassdoor.

Recruit Holdings' net profit after tax grew 10% in the second quarter of 2025, ended September, driven by a 2% increase in group revenue and lower costs.

We expect Recruit’s strategy to focus on expansion of its online marketplace for employment, Indeed, and to a lesser extent, expansion of its online review site for employers, Glassdoor.

Recruit Holdings reported its results for the first quarter of 2025, which ended in June 2025. Despite a 3% decline in group revenue, net profit after tax was up 14% due to costout initiatives.

We expect Recruit’s strategy to focus on expansion of its online marketplace for employment, Indeed, and to a lesser extent, expansion of its online review site for employers, Glassdoor.

Recruit Holdings reported full-year 2024 results, which ended in March 2025. Net profit after tax was up 16% on the previous year, driven primarily by 17% growth in adjusted EBITDA for the HR Technology segment, which makes up around 60% of group adjusted EBITDA.

We raise our fair value estimate for narrow-moat Recruit Holdings by 5% to JPY 7,700 per share following third-quarter fiscal 2024 results, which ended in December 2024. Continued momentum saw management again raise revenue and margin guidance for the full fiscal year. Our upgrade comes from our terminal EBIT margins expanding to 20% from 19%.

We expect Recruit’s strategy to focus on expansion of its online marketplace for employment, Indeed, and to a lesser extent, expansion of its online review site for employers, Glassdoor.

We raise our fair value estimate for narrow-moat Recruit Holdings by 6% to JPY 7,300 per share following its second-quarter fiscal 2024 result (for the three months to Sept. 30, 2024). Given the company’s solid performance so far this fiscal year, management raised revenue and margin guidance. But with shares up 70% calendar year to date, they screen as overvalued.

We expect Recruit’s strategy to focus on expansion of its online marketplace for employment, Indeed, and to a lesser extent, expansion of its online review site for employers, Glassdoor.

We expect Recruit’s strategy to focus on expansion of its online marketplace for employment, Indeed, and to a lesser extent, expansion of its online review site for employers, Glassdoor.

We raise our fair value estimate for narrow-moat Recruit Holdings by 3% to JPY 6,900 per share from JPY 6,700 following first-quarter fiscal 2024 results, which ended in June 2024. The company looks on track to reach management’s guidance for the full year, reiterated during the result. The guidance implies revenue will remain mostly flat on fiscal 2023, as the jobs market stabilizes following several years of strong hiring due to large fiscal and monetary stimulus following the covid-19 pandemic. The reported 6% growth on the previous corresponding period was a jump from 2% growth during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, which followed several quarters of negative growth. Margins are expected to expand as the company pursues its "Year 0" strategy, its own version of the "Year of Efficiency," as many other technology companies have done in recent years. At current prices, Recruit shares screen as overvalued after rallying strongly in the past year due to the falling Japanese yen.

Narrow-moat Recruit Holdings' full-year results were slightly better than we expected. We raise our fair value estimate by 3% to JPY 6,700 per share following fiscal 2023 earnings, which ended in March 2024. Recruit believes job markets are finally stabilizing after years of volatility due to the covid pandemic and reinstated its full-year guidance. Our revenue forecast for fiscal 2024 remains unchanged, coming in a little above the middle of the guidance range. Our adjusted EBITDA forecast is slightly raised, increasing by 2%, based on management's commitments to maintain disciplined spending, and is slightly below the middle of the guidance range. We expect more job market normalization and cost inflation for the group to present headwinds during the year. At current prices, Recruit shares screen as fairly valued.

We expect Recruit’s strategy to focus on expansion of its online marketplace for employment, Indeed, and to a lesser extent, expansion of its online review site for employers, Glassdoor.