Korn Ferry has delivered four consecutive earnings beats at consistent margins and trades at an attractive 12.4x forward earnings, but with an earnings report due in two days, only 2.6% headroom to the near-term price target, and falling on-balance volume, the setup demands patience rather than immediate action.
Thesis pillars
- Perfect Earnings Beat Streak↑Improving
- Attractive Forward Valuation→Stable
- Earnings Binary Event Risk↓Deteriorating
- +1 more pillar — see the Why tab for full reasoning
Pillars as of Jul 3, 2026, based on the 10-K filed Jun 26, 2026
Korn Ferry (KFY) Stock Analysis
Industrials · Staffing & Employment Services
Sell if holding. Analyst target reached at $75.92 — A.R:R 0.2:1 is below the 1.5:1 minimum. Reward from here is too thin for a buy — the engine flags exit. Additional concerns: V7 low-quality RISK_OFF penalty: -0.5 (Q=5.5).
Korn Ferry is a global organizational and talent consulting firm with five solution areas: Executive Search, Consulting, Professional Search & Interim, RPO and Digital. It earned $2,907.5 million of fee revenue in fiscal 2026 from advisory engagements, embedded technology and... Read more
Sell if holding. Analyst target reached at $75.92 — A.R:R 0.2:1 is below the 1.5:1 minimum. Reward from here is too thin for a buy — the engine flags exit. Additional concerns: V7 low-quality RISK_OFF penalty: -0.5 (Q=5.5). Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Score 5.7/10, moderate confidence.
Passes 6/8 gates (positive momentum, clean insider activity, news events none recent, earnings proximity 38d clear, semi cycle peak clear, materials cycle peak clear). Fails on favorable risk/reward ratio. Suitability: aggressive.
About Korn Ferry
About Korn Ferry
Korn Ferry generated fee revenue of $2,730.1 million in fiscal 2025 across five solution areas, led by Executive Search at $846.2 million and Consulting at $662.7 million, and reported net income attributable to the company of $246.1 million. The firm employed 9,253 full-time professionals in 103 offices across 51 countries as of April 30, 2025. Its 350 Marquee and Diamond accounts represented approximately 39% of consolidated fee revenue.
Korn Ferry earns revenue through custom consulting and talent acquisition engagements, embedded solutions, and subscription and licensed products from its Korn Ferry Talent Suite, where subscription and license revenue reached $137.7 million, up 5.1%. Professional Search & Interim contributed $503.5 million at an average bill rate of $133 per hour, Digital $363.5 million, and RPO $354.1 million, while Consulting billed an average of $439 per hour. The firm points to proprietary data, including over 108 million assessments, as a differentiator. More than 83% of fiscal 2025 assignments came from clients served in the prior three years, and about 25% of fee revenue came from cross-solution referrals. Consulting rivals named in the 10-K include AON, Deloitte, McKinsey, Mercer and Willis Towers Watson, while Egon Zehnder, Heidrick & Struggles, Russell Reynolds and Spencer Stuart compete in executive search.
Show full overview
Client and consultant concentration frame the main exposure. The Marquee and Diamond program share has more than doubled since inception, tying a sizable slice of fee revenue to a few hundred relationships. Within the firm, a small number of consultants generally hold primary responsibility for each client relationship, and the top six consultants generated business equal to roughly 3% of fee revenue and the top ten about 5%. Because a consultant's book is portable, a departure may move client work to a competitor. Starting or ending multiple RPO engagements may also swing fee revenue noticeably.
See also: Industrials · Staffing & Employment Services
From Korn Ferry's most recent 10-K filing, extracted October 18, 2026.
Recent developments
updated 2026-10-30Recent Developments — Korn Ferry
Latest news
- NEWS Korn Ferry stock trades down despite bullish technical support and positive momentum signals - Traders Union — Traders Union neutral
- NEWS Korn Ferry (KFY) Financial Health: Profitability & Balance Sheet Analysis - TradingKey — TradingKey neutral
- NEWS Korn Ferry (KFY) Valuation: PE, PB & Fair Value Analysis - TradingKey — TradingKey neutral
- NEWS Korn Ferry (KFY) Technical Analysis: Support, Resistance, Indicators & Moving Averages - TradingKey — TradingKey neutral
- NEWS Korn Ferry (KFY) Risk Assessment: Volatility, Financial Risk & Investment Risk - TradingKey — TradingKey neutral
Generated 2026-10-30T11:22:45Z.
Upcoming dated catalysts
Thesis
Key Metrics
Quality Signals
Options Flow
Concentration Risks(10-K Item 1A)
- MEDIUMCustomerMarquee and Diamond accounts40%10-K Item 1: 'our 350 Marquee and Diamond accounts represented approximately 40% of consolidated fee revenue'
Material Events(8-K, last 90d)
- 2026-09-29Item 5.02LOWStockholders approved the Amended and Restated 2022 Stock Incentive Plan at the Sept 24, 2026 annual meeting: +1,400,000 shares, term extended to Sept 24, 2036, director pay limit now a cash cap. Routine compensation-plan change; no officer departure.SEC filing →
Model-generated analysis — not investment advice. Not a registered investment advisor. Past performance does not guarantee future results. How we score · Editorial policy
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Rating Breakdown
1 floor-breaker
Growth below the gate floor. Component breakdown shows what dragged the score down.static
Price Targets
Position Sizing
Risk Alerts
Earnings
Verdict History
Frequently Asked Questions
Sell if holding. Analyst target reached at $75.92 — A.R:R 0.2:1 is below the 1.5:1 minimum. Reward from here is too thin for a buy — the engine flags exit. Additional concerns: V7 low-quality RISK_OFF penalty: -0.5 (Q=5.5). Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Prior stop was $71.44. Score 5.7/10, moderate confidence.
Analyst target: $76.92 (+1.3% upside). Prior stop was $71.44. Stop-loss: $71.44.
Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; V7 low-quality RISK_OFF penalty: -0.5 (Q=5.5); Sector modifier (Industrials): -0.7.
Korn Ferry trades at a P/E of 14.4 (forward 12.0). TrendMatrix value score: 7.7/10. Verdict: Sell.
9 analysts cover KFY with a consensus score of 4.1/5. Average price target: $91.
What does Korn Ferry do?Korn Ferry is a global organizational and talent consulting firm with five solution areas: Executive Search,...
Korn Ferry is a global organizational and talent consulting firm with five solution areas: Executive Search, Consulting, Professional Search & Interim, RPO and Digital. It earned $2,907.5 million of fee revenue in fiscal 2026 from advisory engagements, embedded technology and subscriptions, with 98 offices in 51 countries. Its 350 Marquee and Diamond accounts supply about 40% of fee revenue, and 82% of assignments come from clients served in the past three years.