HireQuest, Inc. HQI

Competitive advantage analysis · industrials

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
68/100
Moderate

About HireQuest, Inc.

HireQuest, Inc. provides staffing solutions in the United States. The company offers direct-dispatch, executive search, commercial staffing, unskilled and semi-skilled industrial, construction personnel, skilled and semi-skilled industrial personnel, clerical and administrative personnel, permanent placement, commercial and non-CDL drivers, skilled personnel, and executive placement and consultant services. It provides its services under the HireQuest Direct, HireQuest, Snelling, DriverQuest, HireQuest Health, Northbound … Full HQI analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Strong Interest Coverage & Conservative Leverage Debt serviceability is strong (score 0.72), with robust interest coverage.
  • Consistent Cash Generation Cash generation is strong and consistent (score 1.00).

Key risks

  • Revenue Volatility Signals Weak Stickiness Revenue volatility is high (stability score 0.30), suggesting weak customer stickiness.
  • Volatile Margins Suggest Cyclicality Margin volatility is high (stability score 0.30), suggesting cyclical exposure or competitive pressure.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Pricing Power

Moderate
65

Where HQI ranks in Staffing & Employment Services

HireQuest, Inc. ranks #5 of 23 scored companies in Staffing & Employment Services by moat score — the top 22%. The widest moat in the group is Barrett Business Services, Inc. (BBSI) at 82/100.

Moat scores for companies ranked near HQI in Staffing & Employment Services
# Company Moat score Rating
1 Barrett Business Services, Inc. BBSI 82/100 Strong
2 Korn Ferry KFY 75/100 Moderate
3 Kforce, Inc. KFRC 71/100 Moderate
4 TriNet Group, Inc. TNET 69/100 Moderate
5 HireQuest, Inc. HQI 68/100 Moderate
6 Heidrick & Struggles Internatio HSII 61/100 Moderate
7 ManpowerGroup MAN 59/100 Moderate
8 Mastech Digital, Inc MHH 58/100 Moderate
9 Robert Half Inc. RHI 58/100 Moderate

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How HQI scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 65 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 60 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.

Customer Stickiness

Score 65 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 73 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 79 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.

Scale & Market Position

Score 62 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding HQI's moat

What is HireQuest, Inc.'s moat score?

HireQuest, Inc. (HQI) scores 68 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #5 of 23 scored companies in Staffing & Employment Services, the top 22%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 22 companies in Staffing & Employment Services. Its strongest defense is Resilience (79/100) and its weakest is Cost Advantage (60/100).

How does HireQuest, Inc. compare with other Staffing & Employment Services companies?

HireQuest, Inc. ranks #5 of 23 scored companies in Staffing & Employment Services by moat score. The widest moat in Staffing & Employment Services is Barrett Business Services, Inc. (BBSI) at 82/100. The companies ranked closest are TriNet Group, Inc. (TNET) at 69 just above it and Heidrick & Struggles Internatio (HSII) at 61 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 22 companies in Staffing & Employment Services. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is HireQuest, Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for HireQuest, Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and HQI scores: Pricing Power (65), Cost Advantage (60), Customer Stickiness (65), Capital Efficiency (73), Resilience (79), Scale & Market Position (62). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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