Based on key financial metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio, shareholder yield and the price-earnings ratio, the following 3 stocks made the list for top value stocks in the Professional Services industry. Those looking for value stocks to add to their portfolio may want to use this list as a starting point for further investment research.
Why Focus on Undervalued Professional Services Stocks?
Value investors seek to buy stocks at a discount to their intrinsic value. Long-term returns show that such strategies are advantageous. Value stocks, as a group, tend to outperform growth stocks over extended periods of time. Typically, value investors perform financial analysis of numerous metrics, don’t follow the herd and are long-term investors.
AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade is derived from a stock’s Value Score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.
What Goes Into AAII’s Value Grade?
Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data as well as the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movement. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors with that task.
AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A–F grades for more than just value. It is possible for a stock to appear cheap based on one valuation metric but appear expensive on another. It is also possible for one valuation ratio to be associated with outperforming stocks during certain periods of time but not others. Some stocks may even have null values for certain metrics like the price-earnings ratio or the price-to-book ratio but not others. An example of this would be a company with losses instead of profits or a negative book value because of heavy borrowing. Negative earnings or book value result in non-meaningful ratios that are left blank or null.
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3 Undervalued Professional Services Stocks
Of course, there are countless value stocks that are worth mentioning, but this is a concise list of the top 3 undervalued stocks in the Professional Services industry for Friday, March 27, 2026. Let’s take a closer look at their individual scores to see how they measure up against each other and the Professional Services industry median.
| Company | Ticker | Price/Sales | Price/Earnings | EV/EBITDA | Shareholder Yield | Price/Book Value | Price/Free Cash Flow | Value Grade |
| Korn Ferry | KFY | 1.16 | 12.7 | 6.7 | 3.1% | 1.65 | 17.7 | B |
| ManpowerGroup Inc. | MAN | 0.08 | na | 7.6 | 6.5% | 0.65 | na | A |
| Upwork Inc. | UPWK | 1.88 | 13.4 | 11.7 | 2.7% | 2.32 | 6.1 | B |
The Value Grade is assigned based on how each stock’s composite valuation compares to all other stocks.
The process for assigning grades starts with each variable for a given stock. The percentile rankings for all valid ratios that a stock has are calculated. So, for instance, a stock could have a price-to-book ranking in the 43rd percentile, a price-earnings ranking in the 67th percentile, a price-to-sales ranking in the 23rd percentile, etc. Then, those rankings are averaged for each stock. (A minimum of two valid variables are required, though all six will be used if available.)
Once the average of the individual variables is calculated, that average is ranked against all stocks. Put another way, each stock’s composite valuation is compared to all other stocks. These ranks are then sorted into quintiles from the cheapest 20% (a grade of A) to the most expensive 20% (a grade of F).
As always, we recommend that you conduct proper due diligence and research before investing in any security. We also suggest that investors utilize numerous grades, not just value, when it comes to deciding whether a company is a good fit for their allocation needs.
Korn Ferry’s Value Grade
Value Grade:
| Metric | Score | KFY | Industry Median |
| Price/Sales | 37 | 1.16 | 0.78 |
| Price/Earnings | 29 | 12.7 | 19.3 |
| EV/EBITDA | 17 | 6.7 | 13.4 |
| Shareholder Yield | 25 | 3.1% | 0.0% |
| Price/Book Value | 46 | 1.65 | 2.55 |
| Price/Free Cash Flow | 47 | 17.7 | 14.7 |
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, financial services, healthcare, 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.
Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.
Korn Ferry has a Value Score of 78, which is considered to be undervalued.
When you look at Korn Ferry’s price-to-sales ratio at 1.16 compared to the industry median at 0.78, this company has a higher price relative to revenue compared to its peers. This could make Korn Ferry’s stock less attractive for value investors.
Korn Ferry’s price-earnings ratio is 12.70 compared to the industry median at 19.25. This means it has a lower share price relative to earnings compared to its peers. This could make Korn Ferry more attractive for value investors.
Now, let’s assess Korn Ferry’s EV/EBITDA ratio, also known as enterprise multiple. At 6.7, when compared to the industry median of 13.4, the company may be considered undervalued in relation to its peers. Value investors could use the enterprise multiple to identify stocks that are considered overvalued or undervalued relative to their industry.
Shareholder yield is the sum of a stock’s dividend yield (paid over previous 12 months minus special dividends) and the percentage of net share buybacks over the previous 12 months. Korn Ferry’s shareholder yield is higher than its industry median ratio of 0.00%. Value investors may look for an attractive shareholder yield because it can be a powerful tool for identifying if the company has a good management team.
As one of the most common value metrics, the price-to-book ratio evaluates a company’s current market price relative to its book value. Korn Ferry’s price-to-book ratio is lower than its industry median ratio of 2.55. This could make Korn Ferry more attractive to investors looking for a new addition to their portfolio.
Lastly, let’s take a look at Korn Ferry’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio (P/FCF), which can indicate a company’s market value relative to its operating cash flow. Korn Ferry’s price-to-free-cash-flow ratio is higher than its industry median ratio of 14.70. This could make Korn Ferry less attractive because the higher P/FCF ratio indicates that Korn Ferry is undervalued. The P/FCF ratio metric can also be viewed over a long-term time frame to see if the company's cash flow to share price value is generally improving or worsening.
ManpowerGroup Inc.’s Value Grade
Value Grade:
| Metric | Score | MAN | Industry Median |
| Price/Sales | 4 | 0.08 | 0.78 |
| Price/Earnings | na | na | 19.3 |
| EV/EBITDA | 22 | 7.6 | 13.4 |
| Shareholder Yield | 10 | 6.5% | 0.0% |
| Price/Book Value | 14 | 0.65 | 2.55 |
| Price/Free Cash Flow | na | na | 14.7 |
ManpowerGroup Inc. provides workforce solutions and services under the Manpower, the Experis, and the Talent Solutions brands in the Americas, Southern Europe, Northern Europe, and the Asia Pacific/the Middle East. The company offers recruitment services, including permanent, temporary, and contract recruitment of professionals, as well as administrative, industrial, and information technology professional positions; assessment, upskilling, reskilling, training and development, career management, and workforce consulting services; and outsourcing services related to human resources functions primarily in the areas of large-scale recruiting and workforce-intensive initiatives. It also offers contingent staffing and permanent recruitment services; information technology professional resourcing and project services; and recruitment process outsourcing solutions; and right management services, as well as TAPFIN, a managed service provider solution. ManpowerGroup Inc. was incorporated in 1948 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.
ManpowerGroup Inc. has a Value Score of 99, which is considered to be undervalued.
ManpowerGroup Inc.’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make ManpowerGroup Inc. less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 2.55.
You can read more about ManpowerGroup Inc.’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.
Upwork Inc.’s Value Grade
Value Grade:
| Metric | Score | UPWK | Industry Median |
| Price/Sales | 49 | 1.88 | 0.78 |
| Price/Earnings | 32 | 13.4 | 19.3 |
| EV/EBITDA | 44 | 11.7 | 13.4 |
| Shareholder Yield | 27 | 2.7% | 0.0% |
| Price/Book Value | 58 | 2.32 | 2.55 |
| Price/Free Cash Flow | 13 | 6.1 | 14.7 |
Upwork Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides platforms and workforce solutions that connect businesses with freelance, agency, fractional, and payrolled talent in the United States, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, and internationally. The company offers Upwork Marketplace, a human and AI-powered work marketplace that connects businesses with on-demand access to independent talent across a range of categories, including AI-related projects, administrative support, sales and marketing, design and creative, and customer service, as well as web, mobile, and software development. Its marketplace also streamlines workflows, such as talent sourcing, outreach, contracting, and engagement management, as well as provides infrastructure for remote collaboration, including communication and collaboration tools, consolidated invoicing, and payment protection; and Upwork Payroll services. It also offers enterprise solutions that provide access to platform capabilities that support contingent workforce solutions, including sourcing, onboarding, classification, compliance and contract management, payments, and reporting. In addition, the company offers managed services that provide a service-led program management and end-to-end project delivery solution that enables enterprise clients to outsource defined functions or projects; Uma, an AI assistant; and escrow services. The company was formerly known as Elance-oDesk, Inc. and changed its name to Upwork Inc. in May 2015. Upwork Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.
Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are value and so on.
Upwork Inc. has a Value Score of 70, which is considered to be undervalued.
Upwork Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 13.4 compared to the industry median at 19.3. This means that it has a lower price relative to its earnings compared to its peers. This makes Upwork Inc. more attractive for value investors.
Upwork Inc.’s price-to-book ratio is higher than its peers. This could make Upwork Inc. less attractive for value investors when compared to the industry median at 2.55.
You can read more about Upwork Inc.’s key financial metrics like shareholder yield, price-to-free-cash-flow and EV/EBITDA ratio, or learn more about its Momentum and Growth Grades, by subscribing to A+ Investor.
Other Professional Services Stock Grades
Value is just one of the five Stock Grades included in our A+ Investor service. AAII members can see the top-graded stocks—those with grades of A or B for value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality—on the A+ Stock Grades Screener.
Also, if you want full access to all of AAII’s premium services, you can subscribe to one convenient bundled plan called AAII Platinum where you can try out A+ Investor, AAII Dividend Investing, the Stock Superstars Report, Growth Investing and VMQ Stocks. With the other premium services, you can dive deep into additional metrics, portfolios, commentary and information about Professional Services stocks as well as other industrys.
Choosing Which of the 3 Best Professional Services Stocks Is Right for You
Choosing which value stocks to invest in will ultimately depend on your individual goals and allocation; however, comparing similar value stocks in the same industry can help you analyze which might be better investments for you in the long run. So, let’s take a look at the Value Grade for all of our stocks.
- Korn Ferry stock has a Value Grade of B.
- ManpowerGroup Inc. stock has a Value Grade of A.
- Upwork Inc. stock has a Value Grade of B.
Now that you have a bit more background about each of the 3 undervalued stocks in the Professional Services industry as well as their overall grades, it’s time for you to conduct additional research to see if these could fit your portfolio needs based on your goals and risk tolerance. AAII can help you figure out both and identify which investments align with what works best for you.
We do so through a program of education that teaches you to invest for yourself and become an effective manager of your own wealth—no more relying on others for your financial independence. You can rely on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis that makes you a better investor.
A+ Investor adds to that qualitative teaching by giving you a powerful data suite that helps you whittle down investment decisions to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.
Additional Resources About Professional Services Stocks
Want to learn more about Professional Services stocks to see if they could be the right investment for you? Check out some additional resources and articles to help you on your financial journey.
- 3 Undervalued Professional Services Stocks for Friday, March 27
- 3 Undervalued Professional Services Stocks for Thursday, March 26
- Why Concentrix Corporation’s (CNXC) Stock Is Up 5.39%
- Why Enigmatig Limited’s (EGG) Stock Is Up 6.14%
AAII Disclaimer
We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.
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