Kelly Services, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides workforce solutions to various industries in the Americas, Europe, Mexico, and the Asia-Pacific region. It operates in three segments: Enterprise Talent Management, Science, Engineering & Technology, and Education. The Enterprise Talent Management segment delivers temporary staffing, outcome-based, and permanent placement services providing administrative, accounting, and finance; light industrial; contact center staffing; and …
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Competitive advantage assessment
Key strengths
Margins Stable Across CyclesOperating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.90), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
Where KELYB ranks in Staffing & Employment Services
Kelly Services, Inc. ranks #10 of 23
scored companies in Staffing & Employment Services by moat score — the top 43%.
The widest moat in the group is Barrett Business Services, Inc. (BBSI)
at 82/100.
Moat scores for companies ranked near KELYB in Staffing & Employment Services
How KELYB scores on the Corporate Default defenses
Pricing Power
Score 56
· 20% of the moat score
Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.
Cost Advantage
Score 57
· 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 70
· 15% of the moat score
Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.
Capital Efficiency
Score 38
· 18% of the moat score
Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.
Resilience
Score 44
· 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.
Kelly Services, Inc. (KELYB) scores 54 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as moderate. It ranks #10 of 23 scored companies in Staffing & Employment Services, the top 43%. 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 Customer Stickiness (70/100) and its weakest is Capital Efficiency (38/100).
How does Kelly Services, Inc. compare with other Staffing & Employment Services companies?
Kelly Services, Inc. ranks #10 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 Robert Half Inc. (RHI) at 58 just above it and Kelly Services, Inc. (KELYA) at 54 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 Kelly Services, 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 Kelly Services, Inc.?
The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and KELYB scores: Pricing Power (56), Cost Advantage (57), Customer Stickiness (70), Capital Efficiency (38), Resilience (44), 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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