# Korn Ferry (KFY.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/KFY

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:29:36.818Z. Financial observations: FY1998–FY2027.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $73.02 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $79.46 per share, central $102.92 per share, high $118.29 per share. Buy at or below the central value $102.92 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:29:36.818Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 13.4% at the stated quote. About 13.4% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: pass

- 3 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 3

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.25×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2018: 0.11×

- FY2019: 0.07×

- FY2020: 0.09×

- FY2021: 0.09×

- FY2022: 0.18×

- FY2023: 0.13×

- FY2024: 0.10×

- FY2025: 0.13×

- FY2026: 0.13×

- LTM to Jul 2026: 0.13×

### moat: fail

- Recent gross margin fell 79.8pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 46.5%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 25.9%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 79.8 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 89.6%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 9.9%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 2.3%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 14.3%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2018: 41.2%

- FY2019: 30.2%

- FY2020: 24.7%

- FY2021: 25.9%

- FY2022: 94.9%

- FY2023: 62.2%

- FY2024: 51.8%

- FY2025: 57.3%

- FY2026: 56.5%

- LTM to Jul 2026: 34.6%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.05×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $1.3B

- Net income, five-year total: $1.2B

- Return on incremental invested capital: 131.9%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -0.1 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -1.3 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 19.7%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2022: 1.04×

- FY2023: 1.00×

- FY2024: 1.13×

- FY2025: 1.07×

- FY2026: 1.03×

### management: pass

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2026 (9 years)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 30.2% vs 56.5%

- Per-share earnings: 1.48 to 4.66 (three-year endpoint medians)

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -0.1%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: -0.3%

- Market cap gain: $1.5B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $1.3B

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -0.1%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: -0.3%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2026

- Per-share value growth: 15.4%

- Per-share value change: $3.18

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $1.48

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $4.66

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.83

- Average buyback yield: 2.5%

- Buyback history: 10 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $544M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $1.8B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 30.2%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 56.5%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: $1.48

- FY2018: $2.38

- FY2019: $1.83

- FY2020: $1.92

- FY2021: $2.14

- FY2022: $6.11

- FY2023: $4.04

- FY2024: $3.29

- FY2025: $4.66

- FY2026: $5.28

### accounting: pass

- restructuring or one-time charges in at least three of five years

- Sloan accruals: -3.4%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.01×

- Restructuring years, last five: 3

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 11.5%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 1.49×

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.51×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -1.1%

- FY2018: -3.7%

- FY2019: -6.7%

- FY2020: -4.8%

- FY2021: -4.5%

- FY2022: -5.1%

- FY2023: -3.8%

- FY2024: -3.1%

- FY2025: -3.1%

- FY2026: -3.4%

## Holders

- [John Rogers](https://gigainvestors.com/AI): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Richard Pzena](https://gigainvestors.com/PIM): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Price needs cash profits to grow 0.1% a year for ten years · "Korn Ferry Stock Jumps After Earnings. Executive Recruiting Drives Revenue Gains." (finance.yahoo.com, Jun 2025) · sales +1.7%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:00.861Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 0.1% a year for ten years

- 2025-06-18: Earnings call transcript: Korn Ferry Q4 2025 earnings beat estimates, stock surges ([investing.com](https://www.investing.com/news/transcripts/earnings-call-transcript-korn-ferry-q4-2025-earnings-beat-estimates-stock-surges-93CH-4101885))

- 2026-09-09: Korn Ferry Q1 earnings beat estimates as Q2 EPS guidance falls below consensus ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/korn-ferry-q1-earnings-beat-125045836.html))

### Sales · FY2026–2027

sales +1.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56679/000005667926000021/kfy-20260430.htm; observed 2026-06-26.

- FY2018: $1.8B 

- FY2019: $2.0B 

- FY2020: $2.0B 

- FY2021: $1.8B 

- FY2022: $2.6B 

- FY2023: $2.9B 

- FY2024: $2.8B 

- FY2025: $2.8B 

- FY2026: $2.9B 

- FY2027: $3.0B 

### Gross margin · FY2027

gross margin 9.9%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56679/000005667926000021/kfy-20260430.htm; observed 2026-06-26.

- FY2018: 93.1% 

- FY2019: 93.8% 

- FY2020: 93.4% 

- FY2021: 24.2% 

- FY2022: 95.0% 

- FY2023: 90.7% 

- FY2024: 88.1% 

- FY2025: 88.6% 

- FY2026: 25.6% 

- FY2027: 9.9% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in staffing & employment services; annual sales are USD 2.9 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56679/000005667926000021/kfy-20260430.htm (filed 2026-06-26); FY2026: revenue 2938641000; grossProfit 752486000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); KFY.US: Korn Ferry, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of organizational consulting services worldwide. The company offers consulting services for talent strategies, organizational structures, and workforce capabilities; and develops, integrate, and commercializes with Korn Ferry Talent suite, as well as enabling technology across Korn Ferry's other solution areas. The company operates cloud human resources platforms comprising Korn Ferry Architect, for providing organization and talent planning architecture for an agile and future-focused workforce; Korn Ferry Assess, for empowering leaders to take actions that lead to business success; Korn Ferry Listen, for deploying engagement surveys and benchmark employee engagement; Korn Ferry Sell, for developing and replicating sales strategies; and Korn Ferry Pay, a self-service pay solution, that provides global data and insights needed in real-time to make decisions on employee compensation programs. It serves public and private companies, consumer markets, government and public services, financial services, healthcare, education, life sciences, industrial, technology, and specialties sectors. The company was formerly known as Korn/Ferry International and changed its name to Korn Ferry in January 2019. Korn Ferry was founded in 1969 and is based in Los Angeles, California.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 25.6% to 88.6% during 2024–26; it earns 46.5% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 88.1%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 88.6%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56679/000005667926000021/kfy-20260430.htm (filed 2026-06-26); FY2026: grossProfit / revenue = 25.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); 10-year return on capital observations [[2018,0.4120004932859624],[2019,0.30194626849252015],[2020,0.24660707631172296],[2021,0.2593397458309494],[2022,0.9485567873329434],[2023,0.6224847005731232],[2024,0.5179698763261711],[2025,0.5730387168861558],[2026,0.5653564057707923],[2027,0.3455680258002986]]; median 0.46498518480606676. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back USD 115.7 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2017: growth capex 2828000; upkeep 47260000; cash acquisitions 2880000; owner earnings 84181000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.06780627457502286.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 42000000; owner earnings 140367000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2019: growth capex 193000; upkeep 46489000; owner earnings 102651000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.0018801570369504437.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 41460000; cash acquisitions 108602000; owner earnings 118797000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.9141813345454851.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 31122000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 145177000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 49406000; cash acquisitions 133802000; owner earnings 340475000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.39298626918275936.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2023: growth capex 2047000; upkeep 68335000; cash acquisitions 254750000; owner earnings 209529000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 1.2255916842060048.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 55147000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 191973000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 62484000; cash acquisitions 44442000; owner earnings 263865000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.16842703655278268.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56679/000005667926000021/kfy-20260430.htm (filed 2026-06-26); FY2026: growth capex 0; upkeep 89899000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 286379000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); Dividend observations: [[2017,23318000],[2018,22955000],[2019,23459000],[2020,22798000],[2021,22498000],[2022,26786000],[2023,32971000],[2024,54391000],[2025,83632000],[2026,104645000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56679/000005667926000021/kfy-20260430.htm (filed 2026-06-26); FY2026: cash repurchases 115710000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 1% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); KFY.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 0.996 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 0.1% yearly over ten years; actual growth was 21.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-26); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate -0.011451476136068617. Price 73.02; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2016 owner earnings/share 0.774414782066542 → FY2026 5.45286467754527. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $20.39 per share

- 2016-11: $25.38 per share

- 2016-12: $29.43 per share

- 2017-01: $29.05 per share

- 2017-02: $30.91 per share

- 2017-03: $31.49 per share

- 2017-04: $32.40 per share

- 2017-05: $32.11 per share

- 2017-06: $34.53 per share

- 2017-07: $33.45 per share

- 2017-08: $33.32 per share

- 2017-09: $39.43 per share

- 2017-10: $41.83 per share

- 2017-11: $43.84 per share

- 2017-12: $41.38 per share

- 2018-01: $44.56 per share

- 2018-02: $41.91 per share

- 2018-03: $51.59 per share

- 2018-04: $53.46 per share

- 2018-05: $54.68 per share

- 2018-06: $61.93 per share

- 2018-07: $65.98 per share

- 2018-08: $67.13 per share

- 2018-09: $49.24 per share

- 2018-10: $45.14 per share

- 2018-11: $48.97 per share

- 2018-12: $39.54 per share

- 2019-01: $45.60 per share

- 2019-02: $48.79 per share

- 2019-03: $44.78 per share

- 2019-04: $47.02 per share

- 2019-05: $43.08 per share

- 2019-06: $40.07 per share

- 2019-07: $39.28 per share

- 2019-08: $39.08 per share

- 2019-09: $38.64 per share

- 2019-10: $36.69 per share

- 2019-11: $39.28 per share

- 2019-12: $42.40 per share

- 2020-01: $40.98 per share

- 2020-02: $34.98 per share

- 2020-03: $24.32 per share

- 2020-04: $28.83 per share

- 2020-05: $30.26 per share

- 2020-06: $30.73 per share

- 2020-07: $28.10 per share

- 2020-08: $30.50 per share

- 2020-09: $29.00 per share

- 2020-10: $30.19 per share

- 2020-11: $40.04 per share

- 2020-12: $43.50 per share

- 2021-01: $45.60 per share

- 2021-02: $61.55 per share

- 2021-03: $62.37 per share

- 2021-04: $67.89 per share

- 2021-05: $65.41 per share

- 2021-06: $72.55 per share

- 2021-07: $68.74 per share

- 2021-08: $70.69 per share

- 2021-09: $72.36 per share

- 2021-10: $77.21 per share

- 2021-11: $72.74 per share

- 2021-12: $75.73 per share

- 2022-01: $66.38 per share

- 2022-02: $66.26 per share

- 2022-03: $64.94 per share

- 2022-04: $61.44 per share

- 2022-05: $61.46 per share

- 2022-06: $58.02 per share

- 2022-07: $65.51 per share

- 2022-08: $60.92 per share

- 2022-09: $46.95 per share

- 2022-10: $55.59 per share

- 2022-11: $57.03 per share

- 2022-12: $50.62 per share

- 2023-01: $53.99 per share

- 2023-02: $55.89 per share

- 2023-03: $51.74 per share

- 2023-04: $48.02 per share

- 2023-05: $47.00 per share

- 2023-06: $49.54 per share

- 2023-07: $52.68 per share

- 2023-08: $50.98 per share

- 2023-09: $47.44 per share

- 2023-10: $45.52 per share

- 2023-11: $51.74 per share

- 2023-12: $59.35 per share

- 2024-01: $58.67 per share

- 2024-02: $63.66 per share

- 2024-03: $65.76 per share

- 2024-04: $60.72 per share

- 2024-05: $65.94 per share

- 2024-06: $67.14 per share

- 2024-07: $73.72 per share

- 2024-08: $73.05 per share

- 2024-09: $75.24 per share

- 2024-10: $70.65 per share

- 2024-11: $78.34 per share

- 2024-12: $67.45 per share

- 2025-01: $70.73 per share

- 2025-02: $65.65 per share

- 2025-03: $67.83 per share

- 2025-04: $61.70 per share

- 2025-05: $68.01 per share

- 2025-06: $73.33 per share

- 2025-07: $70.87 per share

- 2025-08: $74.14 per share

- 2025-09: $69.98 per share

- 2025-10: $64.70 per share

- 2025-11: $65.77 per share

- 2025-12: $66.02 per share

- 2026-01: $69.47 per share

- 2026-02: $62.67 per share

- 2026-03: $62.95 per share

- 2026-04: $66.44 per share

- 2026-05: $69.98 per share

- 2026-06: $66.58 per share

- 2026-07: $82.27 per share

- 2026-08: $85.55 per share

- 2026-09: $71.59 per share

- 2026-10: $73.02 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2017: low $23.82 per share, central $27.34 per share, high $30.74 per share

- FY2018: low $37.70 per share, central $45.72 per share, high $51.93 per share

- FY2019: low $34.35 per share, central $42.92 per share, high $48.48 per share

- FY2020: low $38.02 per share, central $48.71 per share, high $55.00 per share

- FY2021: low $42.52 per share, central $51.26 per share, high $57.21 per share

- FY2022: low $70.31 per share, central $92.56 per share, high $105.52 per share

- FY2023: low $70.93 per share, central $94.46 per share, high $108.16 per share

- FY2024: low $70.80 per share, central $91.53 per share, high $104.27 per share

- FY2025: low $73.00 per share, central $92.85 per share, high $105.61 per share

- FY2026: low $89.59 per share, central $114.18 per share, high $130.27 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/56679/000005667926000021/kfy-20260430.htm); period 2026-04-30, filed 2026-06-26.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.