Revenue growth has re-accelerated to 6.9% in Q1 FY2027, but the underlying structural margin profile remains highly uncertain due to severe cost data anomalies, including a reported -150.8% gross margin in Q4 FY2026.
Korn Ferry (KFY) annual income statement — 29-year revenue, gross profit & net income history
| Metric | TTM | Apr'26 | Apr'25 | Apr'24 | Apr'23 | Apr'22 | Apr'21 | Apr'20 | Apr'19 | Apr'18 | Apr'17 | Apr'16 | Apr'15 | Apr'14 | Apr'13 | Apr'12 | Apr'11 | Apr'10 | Apr'09 | Apr'08 | Apr'07 | Apr'06 | Apr'05 | Apr'04 | Apr'03 | Apr'02 | Apr'01 | Apr'00 | Apr'99 | Apr'98 |
|---|
| Sales/Revenue | 2.99B | 2.94B | 2.76B | 2.8B | 2.86B | 2.64B | 1.82B | 1.98B | 1.97B | 1.82B | 1.62B | 1.35B | 1.07B | 995.56M | 849.7M | 826.76M | 776.25M | 599.65M | 676.13M | 835.64M | 689.2M | 551.77M | 476.38M | 350.7M | 338.47M | 393.89M | 636.3M | 487.56M | 356.1M | 301M |
| Revenue Growth % | 6.94% | 6.43% | -1.23% | -2.39% | 8.34% | 45.25% | -7.96% | 0.18% | 8.48% | 12.2% | 20.42% | 26.33% | 7.08% | 17.17% | 2.77% | 6.51% | 29.45% | -11.31% | -19.09% | 21.25% | 24.91% | 15.83% | 35.83% | 3.62% | -14.07% | -38.1% | 30.51% | 36.92% | 18.31% | - |
| Cost of Goods Sold | 2.69B | 2.19B | 316.07M | 332.85M | 266.93M | 131.14M | 1.38B | 130.48M | 123.32M | 125.96M | 127.63M | 114.43M | 77.61M | 75.17M | 65.85M | 55.89M | 51.77M | 41.59M | 49.39M | 540.06M | 447.69M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 372.95M | 285.57M | 217.3M | 190M |
| COGS % of Revenue | - | 74.39% | 11.45% | 11.91% | 9.32% | 4.96% | 75.82% | 6.6% | 6.25% | 6.92% | 7.87% | 8.5% | 7.28% | 7.55% | 7.75% | 6.76% | 6.67% | 6.93% | 7.3% | 64.63% | 64.96% | - | - | - | - | - | 58.61% | 58.57% | 61.02% | 63.12% |
| Gross Profit | 294.68M | 752.49M | 2.45B | 2.46B | 2.6B | 2.51B | 440.14M | 1.85B | 1.85B | 1.69B | 1.49B | 1.23B | 988.46M | 920.39M | 783.85M | 770.87M | 724.49M | 558.06M | 626.74M | 295.59M | 241.51M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 280.83M | 215.17M | 138.8M | 111M |
| Gross Margin % | 9.86% | 25.61% | 88.55% | 88.09% | 90.68% | 95.04% | 24.18% | 93.4% | 93.75% | 93.08% | 92.13% | 91.5% | 92.72% | 92.45% | 92.25% | 93.24% | 93.33% | 93.07% | 92.7% | 35.37% | 35.04% | - | - | - | - | - | 44.13% | 44.13% | 38.98% | 36.88% |
| Gross Profit Growth % | - | -69.22% | -0.72% | -5.17% | 3.37% | 470.8% | -76.17% | -0.2% | 9.27% | 13.35% | 21.24% | 24.67% | 7.4% | 17.42% | 1.68% | 6.4% | 29.82% | -10.96% | 112.03% | 22.39% | - | - | - | - | - | -100% | 30.52% | 55.02% | 25.05% | - |
| Operating Expenses | -98.45M | 377.74M | 2.1B | 2.18B | 2.24B | 2.04B | 284.35M | 1.67B | 1.71B | 1.49B | 1.37B | 1.18B | 874.43M | 828.78M | 739.98M | 688M | 638.7M | 560.79M | 623.01M | 203.73M | 159.25M | 475.59M | 410.6M | 334.91M | 351.77M | 456.6M | 208.28M | 153.08M | 104.2M | 95.6M |
| OpEx % of Revenue | - | 12.85% | 75.94% | 78.02% | 78.15% | 77.26% | 15.62% | 84.5% | 86.62% | 81.62% | 84.71% | 87.59% | 82.02% | 83.25% | 87.09% | 83.22% | 82.28% | 93.52% | 92.14% | 24.38% | 23.11% | 86.19% | 86.19% | 95.5% | 103.93% | 115.92% | 32.73% | 31.4% | 29.26% | 31.76% |
| Selling, General & Admin | -205.78M | 247.73M | 2.02B | 2.1B | 2.17B | 1.98B | 191.78M | 1.56B | 1.66B | 1.44B | 1.29B | 1.11B | 837.37M | 798.93M | 698.12M | 673.06M | 623.9M | 528.62M | 569.51M | 193.29M | 149.97M | 466.58M | 402.16M | 316.36M | 319.33M | 406.32M | 581.23M | 438.65M | 94.9M | 87.8M |
| SG&A % of Revenue | - | 8.43% | 73.03% | 75.24% | 75.76% | 74.85% | 10.54% | 78.74% | 84.26% | 78.95% | 79.66% | 82.45% | 78.55% | 80.25% | 82.16% | 81.41% | 80.37% | 88.15% | 84.23% | 23.13% | 21.76% | 84.56% | 84.42% | 90.21% | 94.35% | 103.16% | 91.34% | 89.97% | 26.65% | 29.17% |
| Research & Development | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| R&D % of Revenue | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Other Operating Expenses | 3M | 130.02M | 80.29M | 77.97M | 68.33M | 63.52M | 92.58M | 113.87M | 46.49M | 48.67M | 81.86M | 69.23M | 37.06M | 29.85M | 41.86M | 14.95M | 14.8M | 32.17M | 53.5M | 10.44M | 9.28M | 9M | 8.44M | 18.56M | 32.44M | 50.28M | -372.95M | -285.57M | 9.3M | 7.8M |
| Operating Income | 393.13M | 374.74M | 348.21M | 281.49M | 358.91M | 470.07M | 155.78M | 176.03M | 140.83M | 208.45M | 120.29M | 52.69M | 114.03M | 91.61M | 43.88M | 82.87M | 85.78M | -2.72M | 3.73M | 91.85M | 82.25M | 76.18M | 65.78M | 15.79M | -13.3M | -62.71M | 55.07M | 48.91M | 34.6M | 15.4M |
| Operating Margin % | 13.16% | 12.75% | 12.61% | 10.07% | 12.53% | 17.78% | 8.56% | 8.9% | 7.13% | 11.46% | 7.42% | 3.91% | 10.7% | 9.2% | 5.16% | 10.02% | 11.05% | -0.45% | 0.55% | 10.99% | 11.93% | 13.81% | 13.81% | 4.5% | -3.93% | -15.92% | 8.66% | 10.03% | 9.72% | 5.12% |
| Operating Income Growth % | - | 7.62% | 23.71% | -21.57% | -23.65% | 201.75% | -11.5% | 24.99% | -32.44% | 73.29% | 128.29% | -53.79% | 24.47% | 108.79% | -47.05% | -3.4% | 3251.54% | -173.02% | -95.94% | 11.67% | 7.97% | 15.81% | 316.6% | 218.69% | 78.78% | -213.86% | 12.6% | 41.36% | 124.68% | - |
| EBITDA | 491.48M | 473.59M | 428.5M | 359.45M | 427.25M | 533.6M | 217.63M | 231.34M | 187.31M | 257.03M | 167.55M | 88.91M | 141.63M | 117.78M | 62.88M | 96.88M | 98.46M | 8.77M | 15.31M | 102.29M | 91.53M | 85.18M | 75.63M | 25.82M | 6.15M | -44.76M | 82.79M | 62.45M | 43.9M | 23.1M |
| EBITDA Margin % | 16.45% | 16.12% | 15.52% | 12.86% | 14.92% | 20.19% | 11.96% | 11.7% | 9.49% | 14.13% | 10.33% | 6.6% | 13.28% | 11.83% | 7.4% | 11.72% | 12.68% | 1.46% | 2.26% | 12.24% | 13.28% | 15.44% | 15.88% | 7.36% | 1.82% | -11.36% | 13.01% | 12.81% | 12.33% | 7.67% |
| EBITDA Growth % | 12.1% | 10.52% | 19.21% | -15.87% | -19.93% | 145.19% | -5.93% | 23.5% | -27.12% | 53.41% | 88.44% | -37.22% | 20.25% | 87.31% | -35.1% | -1.6% | 1022.52% | -42.71% | -85.03% | 11.75% | 7.46% | 12.63% | 192.92% | 319.7% | 113.75% | -154.06% | 32.57% | 42.26% | 90.04% | - |
| D&A (Non-Cash Add-back) | 98.35M | 98.84M | 80.29M | 77.97M | 68.33M | 63.52M | 61.84M | 55.31M | 46.49M | 48.59M | 47.26M | 36.22M | 27.6M | 26.17M | 19M | 14.02M | 12.67M | 11.49M | 11.58M | 10.44M | 9.28M | 9M | 9.85M | 10.03M | 19.46M | 17.95M | 27.71M | 13.54M | 9.3M | 7.7M |
| EBIT | 407.67M | 374.74M | 365.27M | 243.61M | 321.6M | 458.19M | 192.98M | 173.15M | 151.23M | 219.86M | 126.59M | 85.7M | 123.5M | 95.29M | 50.19M | 82.59M | 92.24M | 17.95M | 45.64M | 91.85M | 82.25M | 76.18M | 65.78M | 24.32M | 2.98M | -12.43M | 55.07M | 48.91M | 34.6M | 15.4M |
| Net Interest Income | -10.71M | 20M | -20.36M | -20.97M | -25.86M | -25.29M | -29.28M | -22.18M | -16.89M | -13.83M | -14.61M | 237K | -1.78M | -2.36M | -2.37M | -1.79M | -2.54M | -2.62M | -1.06M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Interest Income | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 237K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Interest Expense | 10.71M | -20M | 20.36M | 20.97M | 25.86M | 25.29M | 29.28M | 22.18M | 16.89M | 13.83M | 14.61M | 0 | 1.78M | 2.36M | 2.37M | 1.79M | 2.54M | 2.62M | 5.41M | 4.81M | 10.17M | 10.24M | 10.46M | 9.9M | 10.52M | 8.52M | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Income/Expense | -3.22M | 13.71M | -3.3M | -58.84M | -63.18M | -37.17M | 7.92M | -25.06M | -6.49M | -2.42M | -4.28M | -3.93M | 5.67M | 7.41M | 3.94M | -2.06M | 3.92M | 7.44M | -15.8M | 7.14M | 244K | 842K | -7.1M | -8.12M | -9.33M | -47.87M | -1.62M | 3.84M | -92M | -3.5M |
| Pretax Income | 389.91M | 388.45M | 344.91M | 222.64M | 295.74M | 432.9M | 163.7M | 150.96M | 134.03M | 205.73M | 116.01M | 48.76M | 121.88M | 99.01M | 47.82M | 80.8M | 89.7M | 4.72M | -12.07M | 98.99M | 82.5M | 77.02M | 58.68M | 8.62M | -22.64M | -110.58M | 56.34M | 54.94M | -57.4M | 11.9M |
| Pretax Margin % | 13.05% | 13.22% | 12.49% | 7.96% | 10.33% | 16.38% | 8.99% | 7.63% | 6.79% | 11.31% | 7.15% | 3.62% | 11.43% | 9.95% | 5.63% | 9.77% | 11.56% | 0.79% | -1.79% | 11.85% | 11.97% | 13.96% | 12.32% | 2.46% | -6.69% | -28.07% | 8.85% | 11.27% | -16.12% | 3.95% |
| Income Tax | 107.03M | 107.63M | 93.84M | 50.08M | 82.68M | 102.06M | 48.14M | 43.95M | 29.54M | 70.13M | 29.1M | 18.96M | 33.53M | 28.49M | 16.64M | 28.35M | 32.69M | -485K | 384K | 36.08M | 30.16M | 19.59M | 20.25M | 3.22M | 2.04M | -12.33M | 25.33M | 24.13M | 9M | 6.7M |
| Effective Tax Rate % | 27.45% | 27.71% | 27.21% | 22.49% | 27.96% | 23.57% | 29.41% | 29.11% | 22.04% | 34.09% | 25.09% | 38.88% | 27.51% | 28.78% | 34.79% | 35.09% | 36.44% | -10.27% | -3.18% | 36.45% | 36.56% | 25.44% | 34.51% | 37.33% | -9.01% | 11.15% | 44.95% | 43.92% | -15.68% | 56.3% |
| Net Income | 279.76M | 277.43M | 246.06M | 169.15M | 209.53M | 326.36M | 114.45M | 104.95M | 102.65M | 133.78M | 84.18M | 30.91M | 88.36M | 72.69M | 33.29M | 54.3M | 58.87M | 5.3M | -10.09M | 66.21M | 55.5M | 59.43M | 38.62M | 5.4M | -22.9M | -98.25M | 31.01M | 30.81M | -66.4M | 5.2M |
| Net Margin % | 9.36% | 9.44% | 8.91% | 6.05% | 7.32% | 12.35% | 6.29% | 5.31% | 5.2% | 7.35% | 5.19% | 2.3% | 8.29% | 7.3% | 3.92% | 6.57% | 7.58% | 0.88% | -1.49% | 7.92% | 8.05% | 10.77% | 8.11% | 1.54% | -6.77% | -24.94% | 4.87% | 6.32% | -18.65% | 1.73% |
| Net Income Growth % | 11.86% | 12.75% | 45.47% | -19.27% | -35.8% | 185.15% | 9.06% | 2.24% | -23.27% | 58.92% | 172.32% | -65.01% | 21.55% | 118.34% | -38.69% | -7.76% | 1011.25% | 152.5% | -115.24% | 19.3% | -6.62% | 53.88% | 614.79% | 123.59% | 76.69% | -416.81% | 0.66% | 146.4% | -1376.92% | - |
| Net Income (Continuing) | 282.88M | 280.82M | 251.08M | 172.56M | 213.05M | 330.85M | 115.56M | 107.02M | 104.8M | 135.9M | 87.24M | 31.43M | 88.36M | 72.69M | 31.18M | 52.45M | 57.01M | 5.21M | -12.46M | 62.91M | 52.34M | 57.43M | 38.62M | 5.4M | -22.9M | -98.25M | 31.01M | 30.81M | -66.4M | 5.2M |
| Discontinued Operations | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Minority Interest | 6.89M | 6.3M | 5.68M | 4.27M | 4.93M | 5.24M | 2.39M | 2.31M | 2.73M | 3.01M | 3.61M | 2M | 0 | 0 | 0 | -510K | -520K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.29M | 3.22M | 2M | 2M |
| EPS (Diluted) | 5.45 | 5.22 | 4.60 | 3.23 | 3.95 | 5.98 | 2.09 | 1.90 | 1.83 | 2.38 | 1.47 | 0.58 | 1.76 | 1.48 | 0.70 | 1.15 | 1.27 | 0.12 | -0.23 | 1.46 | 1.24 | 1.32 | 0.90 | 0.13 | -0.63 | -2.62 | 0.81 | 0.82 | -2.37 | 0.23 |
| EPS Growth % | 12.53% | 13.48% | 42.41% | -18.23% | -33.95% | 186.12% | 10% | 3.83% | -23.11% | 61.9% | 153.45% | -67.05% | 18.92% | 111.43% | -39.13% | -9.45% | 958.33% | 152.17% | -115.75% | 17.74% | -6.06% | 46.67% | 592.31% | 120.63% | 75.95% | -423.46% | -1.22% | 134.6% | -1130.43% | - |
| EPS (Basic) | - | 5.33 | 4.69 | 3.25 | 3.98 | 6.04 | 2.11 | 1.91 | 1.86 | 2.41 | 1.48 | 0.58 | 1.78 | 1.51 | 0.71 | 1.17 | 1.30 | 0.12 | -0.23 | 1.50 | 1.40 | 1.49 | 1.00 | 0.14 | -0.63 | -2.62 | 0.83 | 0.85 | -2.37 | 0.24 |
| Diluted Shares Outstanding | 51.35M | 52.52M | 52.81M | 51.43M | 51.88M | 53.4M | 53.41M | 54.77M | 56.1M | 56.25M | 56.9M | 52.93M | 49.77M | 49.15M | 47.88M | 47.26M | 46.28M | 45.46M | 43.52M | 45.53M | 46.94M | 47.27M | 46.23M | 40.31M | 37.58M | 37.55M | 38.48M | 37.68M | 28.02M | 23.84M |
| Basic Shares Outstanding | 50.35M | 51.43M | 51.78M | 51.04M | 51.48M | 52.81M | 52.93M | 54.34M | 55.31M | 55.43M | 56.2M | 52.37M | 49.05M | 48.16M | 47.22M | 46.4M | 45.2M | 44.41M | 43.52M | 44.01M | 39.77M | 39.89M | 38.52M | 37.47M | 37.58M | 37.55M | 37.27M | 36.09M | 28.02M | 21.89M |
| Dividend Payout Ratio | - | 37.72% | 33.99% | 32.15% | 15.74% | 8.21% | 19.66% | 21.72% | 22.85% | 17.16% | 27.7% | 70.63% | 5.78% | 2.92% | - | - | 1.02% | 18.08% | - | 4.41% | 4.38% | 4.49% | 3.82% | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying KFY stock.
For fiscal year 2026, Korn Ferry (KFY) reported total revenue of $2.94B. This represents a 876.3% increase compared to $301.0M in 1998.
Korn Ferry (KFY) is profitable, generating $277.4M in net income for the fiscal year ending 2026 with a net profit margin of 9.4%.
Korn Ferry (KFY) reported an operating income of $374.7M, resulting in an operating profit margin of 12.8%. This margin reflects the operational efficiency of the business before interest and taxes.
Korn Ferry (KFY) generated $752.5M in gross profit for the year, representing a gross profit margin of 25.6%. This demonstrates the company's core pricing power and production efficiency.
Key Metrics
Top Statement Risk
Severe Cost Structure Data Anomalies
Metrics are mathematically derived from official filings.
Growth Momentum Reverses to Acceleration
After four consecutive quarters of negative or flat year-over-year revenue growth, Korn Ferry's top line accelerated to 6.9% in Q1 FY2027, according to its latest filing, marking a decisive shift from the contractionary trend seen through mid-2025.
The revenue trajectory shows a clear inflection from contraction to acceleration, with the most recent quarter posting 6.9% growth following a -4.3% trough in Q2 FY2025. This suggests the company has successfully navigated the cyclical downturn in its staffing services and is now benefiting from improved demand. The acceleration appears broad-based, moving from near-zero growth to high-single digits, which may indicate a more durable recovery than the volatile swings seen in prior periods.
Structural Margin Profile Obscured by Data Anomalies
Reported gross margins exhibit extreme volatility, swinging from 89.4% in Q2 FY2025 to a distorted -150.8% in Q4 FY2026, based on the provided income statement data, making the underlying structural margin trend highly uncertain.
The gross margin line contains severe data anomalies in Q3 and Q4 of FY2026, with COGS figures that appear inconsistent with historical levels and produce impossible margin percentages. Excluding those periods, the normalized gross margin appears stable in the high-80% range, which is significantly higher than most peers like ManpowerGroup (16.7%) and Robert Half (37.2%). This suggests a distinct business mix, likely emphasizing higher-margin consulting and search services over lower-margin temporary staffing, but the data quality issues prevent a definitive assessment of pricing power or cyclicality.
Operating Leverage Evident in Recovery Phase
In Q1 FY2027, operating income grew 22% year-over-year while revenue grew only 6.9%, implying strong operating leverage as the company scales its fixed overhead base over a growing revenue stream.
The relationship between revenue growth and operating income growth in the latest quarter demonstrates significant operating leverage. This suggests that Korn Ferry's cost structure is relatively fixed, allowing incremental revenue to flow through to operating profit at a high rate. The trend of expanding operating margins, from 11.1% a year ago to 13.3% recently, indicates management's expense discipline is effective during the recovery, which is a positive sign for profitability sustainability.
SG&A Dominates Cost Structure, Discipline Evident
SG&A consistently represents the primary non-COGS expense line, consuming approximately 9-10% of revenue across the last ten quarters, while R&D expenditure is consistently reported as zero, according to the company's financial statements.
The income statement data indicates that R&D is not a material cost for Korn Ferry, which aligns with its business model as a professional services firm rather than a technology developer. SG&A is the dominant cost lever, and its ratio to revenue has improved slightly from 12.8% to 9.4% over the past year, suggesting tighter expense control. This focus on SG&A discipline appears to be the primary driver of margin expansion, more so than changes in COGS, which should be monitored for any reversal.
Suspicious Cost Data Threatens Profitability Narrative
The most significant analytical challenge is the severe data anomaly in reported Cost of Goods Sold for Q4 FY2026 ($1.9B) and Q3 FY2026 ($88.3M), which creates nonsensical gross margins and casts doubt on the integrity of the reported operating income and net income figures for those periods.
A short-seller would focus on the grossly inconsistent COGS figures, which swing from a plausible ~$85M to an impossible $1.9B and then back. While operating income and net income figures for those quarters appear reasonable, the underlying cost data is unreliable, making it impossible to verify the claimed profitability. This warrants further investigation into the source of these anomalies, as they could indicate serious reporting errors, undisclosed charges, or potential manipulation that obscures the true cost structure and margin profile.
Q1 FY2027 Marks Clear Inflection to Growth
The quarter ending in Q1 FY2027 represents the first period of meaningful revenue acceleration (6.9%) after a prolonged period of decline, suggesting the company's business cycle has bottomed and is now in a recovery phase.
This inflection is driven by a shift from negative growth (e.g., -5.2% in Q4 FY2024) to positive high-single-digit growth. The recovery appears to be gaining momentum, with each recent quarter showing improved year-over-year growth rates. This inflection point implies that the negative impacts from the prior economic slowdown have been absorbed, and the company is now positioned to capitalize on a more favorable demand environment for its employment services.