Should I Buy BBSI? BBSI 2026 Analysis

Should You Buy Barrett Business Services Inc (BBSI) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Conclusion

Sell

Latest Price

37.850

1 Day change

1.37%

52 Week Range

49.650

Analysis Updated At

2026/02/04

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Not a good buy right now: price action and momentum indicators are bearish, and there’s no near-term catalyst in the news flow to reverse the trend.
Options positioning leans defensive (put-heavy open interest), reinforcing cautious sentiment.
Insider buying is a meaningful positive, but it’s currently outweighed by weakening technicals and recent margin pressure.
Politician/congress activity: no recent congress trading data available (no confirmable influential-figure buying tailwind).

Technical Analysis

Trend/Momentum: Bearish.
- MACD histogram -0.114 and negatively expanding → downside momentum is strengthening.
- Moving averages are bearishly stacked (SMA_200 > SMA_20 > SMA_5) → confirms broader downtrend.
- RSI(6) = 43.889 → neutral-to-weak (not oversold enough to signal a high-conviction bounce).
Key levels (pre-market ~37.29):
- Pivot: 37.46 (price slightly below pivot → bearish bias)
- Support: S1 36.522, S2 35.942
- Resistance: R1 38.397, R2 38.977
Pattern-based forward drift (probabilistic): ~50% chance of -0.23% next day, +0.53% next week, -0.76% next month → slight near-term chop, but tilt negative over a month.

Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals

AI Stock Picker: no signal on given stock today.
SwingMax: No signal on given stock recently.

Options Data

Bearish

Open Interest Put-Call Ratio

Bullish

Option Volume Put-Call Ratio

Sentiment/Positioning: Open interest put/call ratio = 2.0 (puts outweigh calls) → defensive/bearish lean.
Liquidity/Activity: Today’s options volume = 0 (very thin/illiquid read-through; signals are mostly from open interest, not fresh flow).
Volatility: IV (30d) 58.11 vs historical vol 50.8; IV percentile 84 → options are relatively expensive and imply elevated expected moves.
Open interest totals: calls 28 vs puts 56; today’s open interest 84 (~102.44% vs avg) → positioning exists but without notable new volume today.

Technical Summary

Sell

Buy

Positive Catalysts

- Insiders are buying: buying amount up ~194.17% over the last month (often a supportive signal around perceived undervaluation).
- Fundamental growth continues (latest quarter): revenue, net income, and EPS all grew YoY.
- Next scheduled catalyst: QDEC 2025 earnings on 2026-03-02 (after hours) — potential re-rating event if margins stabilize.

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

- Technical setup is bearish (downtrend confirmed by MA stack + weakening MACD), making immediate upside follow-through less likely.
- Options open interest skew is put-heavy (PCR 2.0), consistent with hedging/caution.
- Latest quarter showed profitability pressure: gross margin fell ~4.99% YoY.
- No news in the past week → limited near-term narrative catalyst.
- Hedge funds neutral over the last quarter → no visible institutional “chase” tailwind.

Financial Performance

Latest reported quarter: 2025/Q3.
Revenue: $318.949M (+8.38% YoY) → steady top-line growth.
Net income: $20.619M (+5.05% YoY) → growth, but slower than revenue.
EPS: $0.79 (+6.76% YoY) → positive earnings growth.
Gross margin: 23.41% (-4.99% YoY) → margin compression is the key quality concern and likely contributed to the recent earnings miss context.

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

Recent action (2025-11-06): Barrington lowered price target to $46 from $49, maintained Outperform.
Rationale: strong gross billings growth but earnings missed estimates; estimates reduced post-Q3.
Wall Street pro view (pros): still sees upside (Outperform) and acknowledges strong activity/gross billings.
Wall Street con view (cons): price target cut signals reduced confidence in near-term earnings power, aligning with observed margin compression.

2 Analyst Rating

Wall Street analysts forecast BBSI stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for BBSI is 50 USD with a low forecast of 46 USD and a high forecast of 54 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

2 Buy

0 Hold

0 Sell

Moderate Buy

Current: 37.340

Low

Averages

High

Current: 37.340

Low

Averages

High

Barrington

Outperform -> Outperform

downgrade

$49 -> $46

AI Analysis

2025-11-06

Reason

Barrington

Price Target

$49 -> $46

AI Analysis

2025-11-06

downgrade

Outperform -> Outperform

Reason

Barrington lowered the firm's price target on Barrett Business to $46 from $49 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm reduced estimates following the company's Q3 results. Barrett reported strong gross billings growth but its earnings missed estimates, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

Barrington

Outperform

maintain

$45 -> $49

2025-08-07

Reason

Barrington

Price Target

$45 -> $49

2025-08-07

maintain

Outperform

Reason

Barrington raised the firm's price target on Barrett Business to $49 from $45 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm increased estimates following the company's Q2 report citing strong billings growth.

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BBSI Should I Buy

BBSI Should I Buy

Should You Buy Barrett Business Services Inc (BBSI) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Technical Analysis

Options Data

Technical Summary

Positive Catalysts

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

Financial Performance

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

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