Is Kforce profitable in 2026?

Yes. Kforce held gross margin near 27% despite revenue declines, and Q1 2026 revenue hit $330.4M, essentially flat YoY, its first growth since Q4 2022. Q2 2026 guidance (issued April 27, 2026) calls for $344-352M revenue and EPS of $0.67-$0.75.

Is Kforce losing business to AI?

Kforce posted three straight annual revenue declines through FY2025, with revenue down 5.4% YoY to $1.33B as of December 31, 2025. Analysts tie part of this to AI displacing junior developer, QA, and back-office placement roles central to its staffing revenue.

Who is Kforce's biggest competitor?

TEKsystems (Allegis Group) is Kforce's largest rival, posting roughly $3.9B in 2024 US IT staffing revenue versus Kforce's ~$1.28B, about three times larger, per Staffing Industry Analysts data published July 9, 2025.

Kforce Inc trades independently on NYSE under ticker KFRC, with institutions holding roughly 91-102% of shares per various trackers as of April 23, 2026. Top holders include Kayne Anderson Rudnick (~11.7%) and BlackRock (~9-11%) as of March 30, 2026.

Could AI replace Kforce's staffing business?

AI is eroding the junior developer, QA, and routine back-office roles that drive Kforce's Flex staffing revenue, a factor in three consecutive annual revenue declines through 2025. Kforce is countering with AI-consulting engagements carrying 400-600 bps higher margins as of Q1 2026.

Why did Kforce stock jump in 2026?

Kforce shares roughly doubled from a Q1 2026 low near $27-31 to a 52-week high of $60.70 by July 20, 2026, on signs of revenue recovery, even though the analyst consensus price target stood at just $39.67 that same day.

Job boards and HR platforms · United States

Kforce Inc.

kforce.com ↗

IT staffing firm placing tech workers and consultants for enterprise clients.

Losing its protection

Assessed 22 July 2026 · Evidence as of 22 July 2026

The structural protection is eroding.

On the recordSince 22 July 2026 · Checkable from July 27, 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Q2 2026 earnings report

The call

A smaller player betting that AI-consulting work grows faster than AI shrinks the junior-staffing business that built it.

Kforce finds and hires temporary tech workers for companies, mostly junior developers and routine IT jobs. It is hard to replace because it has long relationships with big enterprise customers and keeps good profit margins, but bigger competitors like TEKsystems and Insight Global do the exact same thing in the same accounts and have more scale and money. At the same time, AI tools like GitHub Copilot are starting to replace junior developers and routine tech work, and Kforce's revenue has fallen for three straight years; the company is trying to pivot to higher-paying AI consulting work, but that business is still too small to prove it can grow and be defended against others. The one thing that could change everything is if Kforce can show in the coming months that its AI consulting business is real, growing fast, and making good money, because if not, it will keep shrinking as competitors outspend it and AI replaces the work it sells.

Why

AI pressure: AI coding tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, enterprise AI agents). AI writes code juniors used to, three straight years of revenue decline trace mostly to junior dev and QA roles disappearing. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.

Bigger players: TEKsystems (Allegis Group) and Insight Global. TEKsystems is 3x Kforce's size, Insight Global 2.4x, both fishing the same enterprise accounts with more scale. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. 60 years of enterprise relationships and a 27% gross margin that's held even as revenue fell.

What would change this call

Kforce Q2 2026 earnings on July 27, 2026 vs. $344-352M guidance. Shows whether the Q1 revenue turnaround is structural or a one-quarter blip.
Kforce discloses AI-consulting or data-project revenue as % of tech mix in filings. Shows whether the higher-margin pivot is actually scaling beyond early pilots.
Kforce stock price vs. $39.67 analyst consensus target over next two quarters. Shows whether the recent 52-week high holds or reverts toward lower fundamentals-based valuation.

Key numbers

FY2025 revenue $1.33B, down 5.4% YoY (2025-12-31)
Q1 2026 revenue $330.4M, first YoY growth since 2022 (2026-03-31)
TEKsystems $3.9B vs Kforce $1.28B IT staffing revenue (2024)

Named risks

Three consecutive years of revenue decline (2023-2025) tied partly to AI eroding junior-role staffing demand. Severity: high
No structural moat versus larger rivals TEKsystems and Insight Global operating in the same enterprise accounts. Severity: high
Stock trading near $57-60 as of July 2026 versus analyst consensus target of $39.67, risk of price reversion. Severity: medium
Management flags a persistently weak and largely frozen labor market entering 2026. Severity: medium
Conflicting headcount data across sources (1,600 vs 6,061 vs 9,400) obscures true workforce trend. Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
TEKsystems	losing to	$3.9B 2024 IT staffing revenue vs Kforce's $1.28B, about 3x larger
Insight Global	losing to	$3.1B 2024 IT staffing revenue vs Kforce's $1.28B, about 2.4x larger
ASGN (Apex Systems)	contesting	$1.39B 2024 IT staffing revenue, close to Kforce's $1.28B
Innova Solutions	contesting	$1.8B 2024 IT staffing revenue, ahead of Kforce
Robert Half International	losing to	Larger professional staffing platform with Protiviti consulting arm, per 2026-05-23 analysis

Questions people ask

Is Kforce profitable in 2026?: Yes. Kforce held gross margin near 27% despite revenue declines, and Q1 2026 revenue hit $330.4M, essentially flat YoY, its first growth since Q4 2022. Q2 2026 guidance (issued April 27, 2026) calls for $344-352M revenue and EPS of $0.67-$0.75.
Is Kforce losing business to AI?: Kforce posted three straight annual revenue declines through FY2025, with revenue down 5.4% YoY to $1.33B as of December 31, 2025. Analysts tie part of this to AI displacing junior developer, QA, and back-office placement roles central to its staffing revenue.
Who is Kforce's biggest competitor?: TEKsystems (Allegis Group) is Kforce's largest rival, posting roughly $3.9B in 2024 US IT staffing revenue versus Kforce's ~$1.28B, about three times larger, per Staffing Industry Analysts data published July 9, 2025.
Who owns Kforce?: Kforce Inc trades independently on NYSE under ticker KFRC, with institutions holding roughly 91-102% of shares per various trackers as of April 23, 2026. Top holders include Kayne Anderson Rudnick (~11.7%) and BlackRock (~9-11%) as of March 30, 2026.
Could AI replace Kforce's staffing business?: AI is eroding the junior developer, QA, and routine back-office roles that drive Kforce's Flex staffing revenue, a factor in three consecutive annual revenue declines through 2025. Kforce is countering with AI-consulting engagements carrying 400-600 bps higher margins as of Q1 2026.
Why did Kforce stock jump in 2026?: Kforce shares roughly doubled from a Q1 2026 low near $27-31 to a 52-week high of $60.70 by July 20, 2026, on signs of revenue recovery, even though the analyst consensus price target stood at just $39.67 that same day.

Timeline

2026-07-27Q2 2026 earnings due; analysts expect EPS ~$0.70, revenue ~$347.8M
2026-07-20Stock hits 52-week high $60.70 while analyst consensus target sits at $39.67
2026-04-27Q2 2026 guidance issued: revenue $344-352M, EPS $0.67-$0.75; dividend raised to $0.40
2026-04-22Kforce opens AI & Innovation Studio in Tampa and AI Center of Excellence in Pune, India
2026-03-31Q1 2026 revenue $330.4M, +0.1% YoY, first YoY growth since Q4 2022
2026-02-01Q4 2025 revenue $332.0M; FY2025 revenue $1.33B, down 5.4% YoY, third straight annual decline
2025-12-31Global headcount estimated at 6,061, down 8.9% from 2023 but up 0.8% YoY
2025-07-09Kforce ranked 5th largest US IT staffing firm with ~$1.28B 2024 revenue

Revision history

22 July 2026

First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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