Employers are hiring and wages rising but investors are no longer buying into this as a halcyon moment for recruiters such as Hays.
A forward price/earnings ratio of just 12 leaves the shares priced at lockdown-levels of pessimism, a far cry from a multiple of 30 this time last year, as the market braces for the hit to economic growth and business confidence from soaring inflation and geopolitical turmoil. Not even a consensus-beating 32 per cent underlying increase in net fee income, a profit measure, over the third quarter could prompt warmer feelings from investors.
The stock is linked to the fortunes of the broader economy and employer sentiment. That served it well as vaccine success stoked hopes of an emergence from the growth-stifling pandemic.
