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Kforce, for a change, likes where it is.
As the Tampa staffing company sees companies slowly hiring again and its own long-lost profits returning, chief executive David Dunkel likes the mix of health care, finance and information technology consultants that Kforce has on its rolls.
"We think the opportunities for us rest right in the areas we're in today," Dunkel said Tuesday. "If you look at the markets identified (by the federal government) for future growth, we're in three of the top 10."
A lack of corporate upheaval would be a welcome respite for a company that has spent much of the past four years reinventing itself, often without the best timing. First, it changed its name from Romac International to Kforce.com to pursue a Web-based model for matching employers and consultants. Within two years, though, came the dot-com bust and Kforce dropped the ".com" from its name. It moved into areas such as nursing, only to find demand depressed among cost-conscious hospitals.
And Kforce was in a funk until the past couple of months, Dunkel says, when a small but steady uptick in hiring temps began.
"One of the big question marks is, "Is this a jobless recovery?' Our view on that is: No, that's not the case," Dunkel said. "It hasn't shown up in the numbers yet, but it's a decidedly different tone than it has been in the past year."
As a sign of Dunkel's faith in a growth spurt, Kforce on Tuesday hired a new chief financial officer, bringing in Derrell Hunter, a 54-year-old business veteran most recently with iOnosphere Inc. in Greenville, S.C. The move frees up the current CFO, Bill Sanders, to wear his other hat as chief operating officer and focus mainly on building sales.
Sanders acknowledges any recovery has been both slow and mixed so far. Information technology is "very slowly coming off the bottom," he said. Demand has been stronger for mortgage bankers along with accountants as companies seek expertise to comply with stricter regulatory rules.
Placement of pharmaceutical workers is growing at 35 to 50 percent a year, now accounting for about $50-million a year, or 10 percent of Kforce's revenues.
Another health care segment, nursing, remains in a slump. But Kforce managers insist the business will eventually pick up based on the demographics of an aging population.
"Are we bullish on nursing? Very much so," Sanders said.
Some investors, after ignoring Kforce for a couple of years, also are becoming bullish again.
John Mahoney, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates, upgraded Kforce to a "strong buy" this summer, saying it looks better than its peers after cutting $200-million in overhead.
"We sensed the business had started to turn positive," he said.
Mahoney predicts Kforce's best days will come in late 2004 and early 2005 when companies start hiring more permanent workers. As a consultant, Kforce stands to make more lucrative search fees for permanent hires.
Dunkel said he is comfortable with Wall Street estimates that the company will make about 10 cents a share this fiscal year.
Its stock, which traded above $30 in 1998, languished as low as $2 a share this year before tracking back up to the $8 range. It closed Tuesday at $7.79 a share, up 2 cents.
- Jeff Harrington can be reached at harrington@sptimes.com or 813 226-3407.