Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY) Stock Price & How to Invest
Last updated October 2026
Short answer
RCRUY is the US over-the-counter ADR of Recruit Holdings, the Tokyo company behind Indeed, Glassdoor, a global staffing arm and Japan's biggest classifieds and booking sites. In practice it is a bet on Indeed's ability to earn more per job posting with AI, even when hiring is soft. Q1 FY2026 revenue rose ~19%, which already has a lot priced into a stock trading near record highs.
RCRUY stock price
As of 2026-10-22, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY) last closed at $24.44, up 141.0% over the past year. Over the past 52 weeks it has traded between $7.63 and $24.44.
Prices are daily closing prices from Yahoo Finance and may be delayed. For the live quote, check your broker or Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.'s investor relations page. Walnut is informational, not investment advice.
What does Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY) do?
Recruit Holdings (Tokyo: 6098) is a Japanese company with three businesses. HR Technology is mainly Indeed, the world's largest job site, plus Glassdoor. Staffing places temporary workers in Japan, Europe and Australia. Marketing Matching Technologies runs Japanese consumer platforms such as SUUMO for housing, Hot Pepper for restaurants and beauty salons, Jalan for travel, and the AirREGI and AirPAY tools that small merchants use. RCRUY is an unsponsored ADR that trades over the counter in the US. Each ADR stands for a fraction of one Tokyo share, so its dollar price and per-ADR earnings are much smaller than the yen figures. It is clearest to judge the company in yen and at company level. In the fiscal year ended March 2026, revenue grew ~3.9% to ~¥3.70 trillion and profit attributable to owners rose ~21.6% to ~¥497 billion, both records, as cost cuts at Indeed lifted HR Technology's EBITDA+S margin to a record ~37.7%.
The big change came in the June 2026 quarter. Revenue jumped ~18.9% to ~¥1.05 trillion and EBITDA+S rose ~56.5% to ~¥293 billion. HR Technology revenue climbed ~33% in yen at a ~47% segment margin, and US HR Technology revenue grew ~30% to a record ~$1.64 billion even though US job postings fell about 4%. Recruit says the growth came from new ways of charging employers and from AI-driven efficiency, not from more hiring. Management raised full-year revenue guidance to ~¥4.23 trillion (~+14%) and EBITDA+S guidance to ~¥1.105 trillion from ~¥949 billion. The company also returns a lot of cash: ~¥713 billion went to dividends and buybacks last year, a payout of ~143% of profit, and a ¥350 billion buyback runs until November 2026. The shares jumped ~20% when the May outlook came out, reached ~¥12,600 in July, and then rose roughly another 45% after the August results to around ¥18,800 by October. So the investment case now depends on whether Indeed can keep earning more from each posting in a weak hiring market, and on how long investors will keep paying a growth-stock multiple for a company tied to the labor cycle.
What's driving Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY)?
1. Indeed monetization without job growth
The most important number in Recruit's recent results is the gap between US HR Technology revenue, up ~30% to ~$1.64 billion in Q1 FY2026, and US job postings, down about 4% in the same period. Recruit puts that gap down to monetization: new products and pricing that charge employers for results (applications and hires) instead of plain listings, along with sponsored placement that AI ranks better. The company now guides US HR Technology revenue to rise ~25% for the full year, up from an earlier ~13.6% forecast. If Indeed keeps growing average revenue per job posting this fast, the business becomes less tied to the hiring cycle than it was from 2023 to 2025, when postings fell and HR Technology revenue shrank. The open question is how many more price increases employers will accept before they move spending to LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter or direct sourcing.
2. AI-driven margin expansion
HR Technology's EBITDA+S margin went from the low 30s to a record ~37.7% in FY2025, then to ~47.4% in Q1 FY2026. Management now expects ~45.8% for the full year, up from ~41.0%. Part of that comes from cuts: Recruit removed about 1,300 HR Technology roles in July 2025 and has merged Glassdoor's operations into Indeed. The rest comes from automation, with AI tools handling matching, screening and sales tasks that used to need people. Group EBITDA+S guidance went up ~16% in a single revision, to ~¥1.105 trillion. Because HR Technology is now the highest-margin segment and the fastest-growing one, each extra point of segment margin has an outsized effect on group profit. That is a big reason the profit forecast is rising faster than revenue.
3. Steady Japan and staffing cash engines
Recruit's two other segments are less exciting but very predictable. Marketing Matching Technologies, the Japanese consumer platforms, is guided to ~¥605 billion of revenue (~+7%) at a margin in the mid-30s, with SaaS products such as AirREGI and AirPAY growing faster than the older classifieds. Staffing is guided to ~¥1.83 trillion (~+7.5%) at a thin ~6% margin. It brings in a lot of revenue but adds little to the valuation, and part of its growth comes from the weak yen inflating European results. Together the two segments produce steady cash that pays for buybacks and dividends, so Recruit does not depend entirely on Indeed's cycle. A sale or spin-off of overseas staffing has been raised repeatedly as a way to make the group simpler and more focused.
4. Capital returns and net cash
Recruit is one of the bigger buyers of its own stock in Japan. In FY2025 it returned ~¥713 billion through dividends and repurchases, a total payout ratio of ~143%, which ran its net cash down to ~¥766 billion at March 2026. The current ¥350 billion program runs through November 30, 2026, and the company bought back ~13.7 million shares between April and August. The dividend is small, guided at ~¥26 per home share for FY2026, a yield of only about 0.2%, so nearly all shareholder return comes from the buyback reducing the share count. Since net cash is falling, future programs will depend more on how much cash the business generates each year than on the balance sheet. Investors will be watching whether a new authorization follows when this one ends in November.
What are the risks to Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY)?
The biggest risk is the hiring cycle. Indeed makes money when employers want to hire, and US postings are already falling. The recent growth depends on monetization outrunning that decline, which cannot go on forever, and a US recession could cut both postings and employer budgets together, as in 2023 to 2025 when HR Technology revenue fell. Next is AI disruption. The same technology that is improving Indeed's margins could also let employers, LinkedIn, Google or AI agents find candidates without paying a job marketplace, and regulators are paying more attention to automated hiring tools. Valuation is a risk too: after the shares rose more than 2.5x in under a year, the stock trades near 45x trailing earnings, so a guidance cut or a weak quarter could hit the price hard. Currency adds another layer for US holders. Recruit reports in yen while earning most HR Technology revenue in dollars, and the ADR's dollar price moves with USD/JPY, so a stronger yen can work against them in two ways. Finally, RCRUY is an unsponsored OTC ADR. Trading volume is lower than in Tokyo, spreads can be wider, the company does not file US reports, and depositary fees and Japanese dividend withholding tax apply.
Is RCRUY a buy or a sell?
We give no verdict on Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.
The case for buying. Indeed monetization without job growth. The most important number in Recruit's recent results is the gap between US HR Technology revenue, up ~30% to ~$1.64 billion in Q1 FY2026, and US job postings, down about 4% in the same period.
The case against. The biggest risk is the hiring cycle.
Read the full bull and bear case on RCRUY, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.
How is Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY) valued? (approximate, October 2026)
A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.'s investor relations page or your broker.
- Revenue (TTM): ~¥3.86 trillion (~$26B)
- FY2026 revenue guidance: ~¥4.23 trillion (+~14%)
- Net income (FY2025): ~¥497 billion (+~22%)
- Market cap: ~¥26-27 trillion (~$165B)
- P/E (trailing, company level): ~45x
- Dividend yield: ~0.2%
These figures are at the company level, in yen with rough dollar conversions, because RCRUY's per-ADR price and EPS are a fixed fraction of the Tokyo share's and are easy to mix up. At a share price near ¥18,800, the stock trades at roughly 45x trailing twelve-month earnings and more than 50x FY2025 profit of ~¥497 billion. On the ~¥623 billion or more profit implied by guidance for the year to March 2027, the multiple is still in the low 40s. That is a wide premium to staffing peers and above most large online platforms. Shareholder return comes mostly from buybacks, not the small dividend. Figures are approximate as of October 2026.
Who competes with Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY)?
Online job marketplaces
LinkedIn (Microsoft), ZipRecruiter, CareerBuilder and Monster, plus regional boards such as StepStone and SEEK, compete with Indeed for employer budgets. LinkedIn is strongest in professional and white-collar hiring, Indeed in hourly and broad-market roles. Google and AI-native recruiting tools could also move job search away from traditional marketplaces over time.
Global staffing firms
Randstad, Adecco, ManpowerGroup and Persol compete with Recruit's staffing segment for temporary placement and outsourced workforce contracts in Japan, Europe and Australia. Staffing is a low-margin, cyclical business where scale and client relationships matter most, which is why this segment brings in a lot of revenue but only a small share of Recruit's value.
Japanese consumer platforms
In Japan, Recruit's SUUMO, Hot Pepper and Jalan compete with LIFULL HOME'S in housing, Tabelog (Kakaku.com) in restaurants, and Rakuten Travel in lodging, while AirREGI and AirPAY compete with Square, Rakuten Pay and PayPay in merchant tools. Recruit's scale and the many merchants signed up across its services make these positions hard to dislodge.
What stocks are similar to Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY)?
Other names that sit close to RCRUY: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.
How to invest in Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY)
There are three common ways to get RCRUY exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so RCRUY sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.
Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where RCRUY fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.
New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.
The bottom line on Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY)
Recruit is a high-quality, cash-rich hiring platform whose AI-driven Indeed rebound is real but already reflected in a roughly 45x trailing multiple, leaving the stock sensitive to any slowdown in hiring.
More on Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. (RCRUY)
Whether RCRUY is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is RCRUY a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the RCRUY stock forecast.
For income investors, whether RCRUY pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does RCRUY pay a dividend? And to weigh RCRUY against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: RCRUY vs MSFT and RCRUY vs STEP.
Wondering how RCRUY fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how RCRUY fits what you actually hold: whether you own it already through a fund, what it would do to your concentration, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
What is RCRUY?
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RCRUY is the ticker for Recruit Holdings' American Depositary Receipt, which trades over the counter in the US. Recruit's main listing is on the Tokyo Stock Exchange under code 6098. The ADR is unsponsored, meaning a depositary bank created it without a formal agreement with the company, and Recruit does not file US-style reports with the SEC. Each ADR stands for a fraction of one Tokyo share, so its dollar price is much lower than the yen share price converted to dollars. Holding RCRUY gives economic exposure to the same company, including Indeed, Glassdoor, the global staffing business and the Japanese consumer platforms. Prices are set in dollars and follow both the Tokyo share price and the dollar-yen exchange rate. Many US brokerages offer it, but liquidity is thinner than on the home market.
How does Recruit make money?
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Recruit reports three segments. HR Technology, mostly Indeed and Glassdoor, charges employers for sponsored job listings and, more and more, for results such as qualified applications. It is now the most profitable segment, with an EBITDA+S margin of ~47% in Q1 FY2026. Staffing earns fees for placing temporary and contract workers in Japan, Europe and Australia. It is the largest segment by revenue (~¥1.83 trillion guided) but carries a margin of only ~6%. Marketing Matching Technologies runs Japanese consumer marketplaces for housing, restaurants, beauty, travel and weddings, and earns advertising and booking fees from businesses. It also sells SaaS and payments tools such as AirREGI and AirPAY. Profit is increasingly driven by HR Technology, even though staffing is bigger on the top line.
Why did Recruit stock jump in 2026?
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Two results changed the outlook. In May 2026, Recruit forecast record profit for the year to March 2027, led by Indeed, and the Tokyo shares rose nearly 20% in one session. Then in August, Q1 results beat the company's own expectations by a wide margin: revenue rose ~18.9%, EBITDA+S rose ~56.5%, and US HR Technology revenue grew ~30% while US job postings fell. Management raised full-year revenue guidance to ~¥4.23 trillion and EBITDA+S guidance to ~¥1.105 trillion. Investors had seen Indeed as a purely cyclical business that shrank when hiring slowed, and the results suggested it could grow by charging more per posting and using AI to cut costs. The shares reached about ¥12,600 in July and then climbed to records near ¥18,800 by October after the August beat, helped further by ongoing buybacks.
What is the ADR ratio and why does it matter?
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An ADR ratio states how many home-market shares one ADR represents. For RCRUY, one ADR stands for a fraction of a Tokyo share, so per-ADR figures such as price, earnings per share and dividend are a set fraction of the yen per-share figures, converted at the current exchange rate. It matters because data sites sometimes mix per-ADR prices with home-share earnings, or the other way around, and the resulting P/E ratios and yields can be wildly off. Free quote pages for RCRUY have shown widely different P/E readings for this reason. Company-level numbers avoid the problem: market cap, total net income and revenue. Dividing roughly ~¥26 to 27 trillion of market value by ~¥497 billion of FY2025 profit gives more than 50x, and by trailing twelve-month profit about 45x, whatever the ADR ratio.
Is Indeed being disrupted by AI?
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So far the data shows AI helping Indeed more than hurting it. Recruit uses AI to rank and match candidates, automate employer messages, and run sales and support with fewer people, which is a big reason HR Technology margins went from the low 30s to about 47% in Q1 FY2026. AI-based matching also supports pricing tied to results, where employers pay for applicants instead of listings. Over a longer horizon there is a real risk. If AI agents can find, screen and contact candidates directly, or if LinkedIn, Google or new AI recruiting startups take over the starting point of job search, Indeed could lose its position between employers and job seekers. Neither outcome is settled, so how well Indeed holds its traffic and its share of employer spending is worth tracking.
Does Recruit pay a dividend?
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Yes, but it is small. Recruit paid ~¥25 per Tokyo share for FY2025 and guides ~¥26 for FY2026, a yield of only about 0.2% at recent prices. Almost all of its shareholder return comes from buybacks. In FY2025 the company returned ~¥713 billion through dividends and repurchases together, more than its ~¥497 billion of profit, for a total payout ratio of ~143%. A ¥350 billion buyback runs through November 30, 2026. For RCRUY holders, dividends arrive in dollars after the depositary's conversion and fees, and after Japanese withholding tax, which a US investor may be able to claim as a foreign tax credit. Because the ADR is unsponsored, payment timing and fees depend on the depositary bank and not on Recruit.
How exposed is Recruit to the US job market?
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Very exposed. HR Technology earns most of its revenue in the US, and the segment now produces the largest share of group profit. US HR Technology revenue was ~$1.64 billion in Q1 FY2026 alone, and the company guides it to ~$6.65 billion for the full year. Indeed's sales follow employer demand: when US hiring cooled from 2023 to 2025, postings fell and HR Technology revenue dropped for several quarters. The 2026 rebound came even though postings fell about 4%, which shows that pricing and product changes can offset some of the cycle, but they cannot replace it. The staffing business is also cyclical, though it is centered on Japan and Europe. A US recession would therefore probably hit Recruit's earnings and its valuation multiple together.
What are the main ways to get exposure to Recruit?
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US investors usually have three options. The first is the RCRUY ADR, priced in dollars and traded over the counter, which is the most convenient at most US brokers but can have wider spreads. The second is the Tokyo-listed shares (6098), available at brokers with Japanese market access, which have deeper liquidity and require handling yen. The third is indirect exposure through Japan or global ETFs: Recruit is a large holding in many Japan equity funds such as broad MSCI Japan trackers, though at a small weight. Each choice carries yen currency risk unless it is hedged. Walnut can show how a position like RCRUY fits alongside your other holdings and baskets, but Walnut is not an investment adviser, and this description is not a recommendation to own any security.
Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Financial figures on this page are approximations; always verify current numbers with Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd.'s investor relations page or your broker before making investment decisions.