New York, May 31, 2026, 15:04 EDT
Barrett Business Services (BBSI) ended Friday at $32.54, up 1.31%. The stock finished the shortened U.S. trading week about 3.2% above its May 22 close, getting a boost ahead of the company’s June 5 dividend. Around 340,000 shares traded, more than recent daily volume in the same price table.
The next regular session for the stock is set for Monday. Nasdaq holds its standard trading hours from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays. The exchange was shut May 25 for Memorial Day, so there were just four trading days for investors last week.
The timing is important with Friday’s labor market report landing just as BBSI gets set to pay its regular dividend. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its May jobs numbers June 5 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern—the same day as the company’s payout.
BBSI acts as a professional employer organization, or PEO, taking on payroll, benefits, workers’ comp, and HR admin for its clients. The company points to gross billings in its filings—a measure including payroll processed through its platform—as useful for tracking business activity. Worksite employees refer to client workers in its PEO base.
BBSI’s latest spark is still its first-quarter earnings. The company’s IR page showed the May 6 Q1 release as the most recent press release. The next most recent post was an April 28 product update.
BBSI’s May 6 release put first-quarter revenue up 5% to $307.0 million and gross billings ahead 3% at $2.16 billion. Average worksite employees increased 1.9%. Net loss got bigger, reaching $14.8 million, or 59 cents a share, after an $11.6 million tax-effected charge from old tax credits. Without that charge, net loss was $3.2 million, or 13 cents a share. CEO Gary Kramer called the quarter “in line with our expectations” but pointed to “continued headwinds from client hiring.” GlobeNewswire
The company kept its 2026 targets unchanged, still expecting gross billings growth between 3% and 5% and worksite employee growth of 2% to 4%. Gross margin as a percent of gross billings is forecast at 2.70% to 2.85%. The effective tax rate remains at 26% to 27%. The board also kept its cash dividend steady at 8 cents a share for the quarter, payable June 5 to holders on record May 22.
BBSI CFO Anthony Harris told the earnings call the company had $92 million in unrestricted cash and investments as of March 31, and no debt. He called the balance sheet “in a strong position.” CEO Kramer said client workforce cuts started to moderate from 2025, but staffing revenue still fell 21% as clients stayed cautious about temp labor orders. The Motley Fool
Broad moves lent support. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% Friday, closing out a ninth week of gains. The Nasdaq Composite picked up 0.2%. The Russell 2000 slipped 0.6% Friday but still advanced 1.7% this week.
Payroll and HR outsourcing names caught bids Friday, helping BBSI get a lift from the group. Insperity closed up 1.4%, Paychex advanced 1.5%, and Automatic Data Processing finished 0.9% higher. BBSI rose 1.3%, right in line with those moves.
The rebound comes with little room for mistakes. BBSI said its quarter-to-quarter results can shift thanks to seasonality, payroll-tax wage caps, claims in workers’ compensation, demand, and pressure from rivals. Workers’ comp costs may also move with how often and how severe workplace injury claims are. A weak jobs number, soft client hiring, or bad claims news could turn last week’s rally into just a pause, not a breakout.
