Korn/Ferry Expected To Deliver High-Single-Digits EPS Growth

Shares of Korn/Ferry International KFY are rising on Wednesday afternoon, ahead of the announcement of the company’s fourth quarter financial results, scheduled for after the market closes on Thursday.

According to Estimize, expectations point towards a 7 to 9 percent year-over-year increase in earnings on flat zero growth. In the fiscal fourth quarter of 2014, the company reported earnings of $0.43 per share on revenue of $260.8 million.

For the fourth quarter of 2015, management guided earnings of $0.47 per share on revenue of $260 million. The crowd projects earnings in line with guidance, on slightly higher revenue of $263.28 million.

The Street is the less optimistic, and models consensus earnings of $0.46 per share on revenue of $260.66 million.

One thing should be noted from the chart above: Korn/Ferry has a history of comfortably beating estimates and guidance.

Institutional Sponsorship

To better understand the sentiment among experts, let’s take a look at what major financial institutions have been doing with Korn/Ferry’s stock lately.

The largest institutional shareholder as of the end of the first quarter of the year was the Vanguard Group. The firm disclosed ownership of 3,929,025 shares, worth more than $129 million, after acquiring 454,556 shares between January and March.

Also quite bullish on the stock seems hedge fund SG Capital Management, managed by Ken Grossman and Glen Schneider, which started a new position in the company, with 358,349shares, over the quarter.

On the contrary, James Parsons’ Junto Capital Management sold all of its 622,056 shares over the first quarter, while Israel Englander’s Millennium Management disposed of 77 percent of its holdings, keeping only 87,293 shares.