Shares of Heidrick & Struggles International (NASDAQ: HSII), an executive recruiter and temporary-help provider, fell sharply at the open on Tuesday, dropping as much as 20% at one point. Although the stock managed to claw back more than half of that loss by midday, it was still off in the high single digits by 1 p.m. ET today. The big news came after the close on Monday, when the company reported third-quarter earnings.

By Wall Street's estimate, Heidrick & Struggles' quarter looked decent. It soundly beat analyst expectations on the top line. Putting some numbers on that, sales were $255.2 million, and adjusted earnings per share came in at $1 (analysts had been looking for just $0.86 per share). The likely problem this morning was that these numbers don't exist in a vacuum. 

In the same quarter a year ago, revenue was $263.8 million and per-share adjusted earnings were $1.11. In other words, results fell notably year over year. In the second quarter of 2022, meanwhile, revenue was $298.7 million and earnings tallied up to $1.19 per share. So sequential quarterly performance was weak as well. That puts a different spin on the quarter and helps explain why investors might not have been as pleased as you would expect after beating analyst projections.

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Source Fool.com