Insperity, Inc. (NSP)

“Insperity, Inc. (NSP)—In 2008 CEO-cofounder Paul Sarvadi’s 20-year-old Administaff, Inc. encountered serious growing pains. It provided staff outsourcing to small- and medium-sized companies like itself. With the economy and hiring beset by recession, revenues stopped growing at $1.6 billion and its earnings and stock price nose-dived. But Sarvadi had...

“First, he expanded to become a full-service human resources department for clients in 24 major U.S. markets, everything from recruiting to performance management. To reflect the transformation, he changed its name last March to Insperity. ‘It’s not in the dictionary,’ he says. ‘It means to inspire prosperity’—both its own and that of its up-and-coming clients. Today it’s paying off. Insperity has scored eye-catching earnings surprises in seven consecutive quarters. Analysts look for a 2011 jump from $0.86 to $1.27 per share, then to $1.69 in 2012 and $2.00-plus in 2013—rising at a 34% annual clip. NSP shares, up from 19 to 25 since September, still trade at just 14.8 times 2012 earnings and a forward PEG ratio of 0.43—with a 2.4% dividend yield to boot. The consensus price target is 36—and more when hiring resumes and the P/E reverts toward its 20x norm.”

Stephen W. Quickel, US Investment Report, January 2012

Stephen Quickel

Stephen Quickel is the publisher of US Investment Report. He joined Forbes as reporter in 1962, when the magazine was small and relatively unknown. Rising to Staff Writer, Associate Editor and Senior Editor, he wrote thousands of articles, including more than fifty cover stories, on all aspects of business and finance. His specialty was critiquing publicly traded companies and their managements. He started Forbes’ first bureau in 1967 in Los Angeles, oversaw the expansion its worldwide bureau network until 1977 and frequently served as the magazine’s interim Managing Editor from the late 1960s onward. In 1977, he became Managing Editor of Institutional Investor, then a new magazine for investment professionals that was undergoing rapid expansion, including the launch of its international edition. In 1980 he became Editor of Financial World, then the only magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of individual investors, tripling circulation and assisting in its sale to new owners. In 1984 he served as start-up Editor in Chief of New York City Business, an award-winning local business tabloid subsequently sold to Crain’s New York Business. Mr. Quickel earned an AB in English and economics from Dartmouth College in 1958 and an MBA from Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School 1959.