DHI Group (DHX) Q1 2026 Earnings Transcript

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Date

May 5, 2026 at 5 p.m. ET

Call participants

• Chief Executive Officer — Art Zeile
• Chief Financial Officer — Greg Schippers
• Senior Investor Relations Consultant — Todd Kehrli

Takeaways

• ClearanceJobs revenue -- $14 million, up 5% year over year, with flat sequential performance compared to the previous quarter.
• ClearanceJobs bookings -- $18 million, an increase of 7% year over year.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin for ClearanceJobs -- 40% for the quarter; prior-year period EBITDA margin was 43%.
• ClearanceJobs customers -- 1,741 recruitment package customers, which decreased 8% year over year and 2% sequentially.
• Average annual revenue per ClearanceJobs customer -- $27,286, representing a 6% year-over-year rise, while remaining flat sequentially.
• ClearanceJobs renewal and retention rates -- 88% revenue renewal rate and 105% retention rate; renewal rate was impacted by the non-renewal of a customer with over $500,000 annual spend.
• Point Solutions Group (PSG) contribution -- $700,000 in revenue and bookings for ClearanceJobs since acquisition in late February.
• Dice revenue -- $15.7 million, reflecting a 17% year-over-year decline and a 10% decrease sequentially.
• Dice bookings -- $20.2 million, a 20% decline year over year.
• Dice customers -- 3,832 recruitment package customers, down 15% year over year and 7% sequentially.
• Dice average annual revenue per customer -- $15,466, down 6% year over year and down 1% sequentially.
• Dice renewal and retention rates -- 71% revenue renewal rate; retention rate increased to 100% from 92% in the prior-year quarter.
• Deferred revenue -- $44.5 million at quarter end, down 12% year over year.
• Total contract backlog -- $99 million, an 8% decline from the prior-year quarter, with $77.2 million short-term and $21.8 million long-term backlog.
• Operating expenses -- Decreased by $15 million or 36% to $26.6 million versus the same period last year, due to efficiency actions and lower capitalized development costs.
• Net income -- $1.5 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, versus a net loss of $9.8 million and a $0.21 loss per diluted share in the prior-year quarter, which had included significant non-cash impairment and restructuring charges.
• Non-GAAP EPS -- $0.08 for the quarter, up from $0.04 last year.
• Diluted shares outstanding -- 42.4 million, a reduction of 3.1 million shares (7%) compared to the prior-year quarter.
• Adjusted EBITDA -- $8.1 million, representing a 27% margin, compared to $7 million and a 22% margin in the prior-year period.
• Segmented adjusted EBITDA -- Dice adjusted EBITDA increased to $4.3 million (28% margin) versus $3.4 million (18% margin) in the prior year.
• Operating cash flow -- $8.4 million, up sharply from $2.2 million a year ago.
• Free cash flow -- $6.8 million, compared to $88,000 the prior year.
• Capital expenditures -- $1.6 million, reflecting a 24% year-over-year decrease; primarily capitalized development costs.
• Balance sheet and leverage -- $3 million cash, $33 million total debt (up $3 million sequentially), and 0.91 times EBITDA leverage ratio.
• Share repurchases -- $4.7 million allocated for repurchasing two million shares during the quarter; $6.4 million remains available under the current $10 million buyback authorization.
• Full-year guidance -- Anticipates total revenue of $124 million to $128 million, with ClearanceJobs and Dice each expected to contribute $62 million to $64 million.
• Q2 guidance -- Forecasts revenue of $30 million to $32 million, with both ClearanceJobs and Dice projecting $15 million to $16 million each.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin guidance -- Targeting 25% for the company; 40% for ClearanceJobs and 22% for Dice for the full year.
• Free cash flow target -- Company plans to generate free cash flow at or above 10% of revenue in 2026.
• ClearanceJobs strategic expansion -- The PSG acquisition supported the "expand the mission" approach, with early increases in deployed contractors and active contracts with large prime contractors.
• Agile ATS progress -- Continues to see customer additions and increased sales investment, though still at small scale.
• ClearanceJobs new product launch -- Premium candidate subscription introduced in February showing faster-than-expected adoption, though immediate revenue impact remains modest.
• Dice market trends -- 19% year-over-year increase in March tech job postings to 537,000, driven by 254,000 new roles, with 67% of postings requiring AI-related skills, up from 29% a year prior.
• Dice AI segment -- Employers can now search over 360 distinct AI-related skills on Dice; machine learning roles have increased 167% year over year in job postings.
• Dice product innovation -- Launch of a Claude connector (AI integration) and completion of two self-service feature rollouts enhancing digital user experience.
• Customer wins -- ClearanceJobs added Akamai Intelligence, SynthB, and Michigan Technological University; Dice added Avra Health, Fourth Uget Tech, and Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation.
• Defense spending environment -- $1 trillion U.S. defense budget for fiscal 2026 highlighted, with additional NATO commitments targeting 5% of GDP, which may drive significant future demand for ClearanceJobs services.

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Risks

• Dice revenue declined 17% year over year and 10% sequentially, with bookings down 20% and customer count down 15% year over year, indicating ongoing weakness in non-defense tech hiring.
• ClearanceJobs’ recruitment package customers fell 8% year over year and 2% sequentially; the renewal rate was negatively affected by the loss of a customer with over $500,000 annual spend.
• Deferred revenue fell 12% to $44.5 million and total committed contract backlog declined 8% to $99 million versus the prior-year quarter, which may signal continued near-term demand headwinds.
• Management indicated that growth in Dice bookings is not anticipated to resume until broader tech hiring conditions recover, leaving visibility limited for that segment.

Summary

DHI Group (NYSE:DHX) delivered adjusted EBITDA margin expansion, higher free cash flow, and bottom-line improvement despite mixed top-line trends between its two principal platforms. Management reported that ClearanceJobs remains the central driver with revenue and bookings growth, supported by U.S. and NATO defense spending initiatives, while Dice experienced contracting revenue, bookings, and customer counts amid continuing headwinds in commercial tech hiring. Segmental cost optimization produced lower operating expenses and improved profitability, and the company increased its share repurchase activity to reduce outstanding shares. Full-year guidance projects balanced revenue contributions from both ClearanceJobs and Dice, continuation of cost discipline, and progress on recent acquisitions and new digital platform offerings.

• The CFO stated, "Our focus remains on delivering long-term sustainable and profitable revenue growth along with strong free cash flow generation averaging at or above 10% of revenues."
• Exposure to significant U.S. and international defense budget increases is anticipated to drive incremental demand, with the CEO emphasizing, "customer sentiment has improved significantly, and we are beginning to see that reflected in stronger engagement and demand."
• The company marked early traction for its premium candidate subscription and self-service features, signaling intent to monetize additional platform capabilities beyond core recruitment packages.
• PSG is projected to contribute approximately $6 million to full-year revenue over 10 months, per management guidance.

Industry glossary

• ATS (Applicant Tracking System): Software used by recruiters and employers to manage the process of hiring candidates, including tracking applications, organizing candidate information, and automating parts of the recruitment workflow.
• Prime contractor: A company that holds a direct contract with a government agency, often in defense, responsible for delivering primary products or services and managing subcontracts to other firms.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Good day, and welcome to the DHI Group, Inc. First Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note, today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Todd Kehrli of Pondel Wilkinson. Please go ahead.

Todd Kehrli: Thank you, Operator. Good afternoon, and welcome to DHI Group, Inc.’s First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today are DHI Group, Inc.’s CEO, Art Zeile, and CFO, Greg Schippers. Before I hand the call over to Art Zeile, I would like to address a few quick items. This afternoon, DHI Group, Inc. issued a press release announcing its financial results for 2026. The release is available on the company's website at dhigroupinc.com, and this call is being broadcast live over the Internet for all interested parties. The webcast will be archived on the Investor Relations page of the company's website.

I want to remind everyone that during today's call, management will make forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Please note that except for the historical information, statements on today's call may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect DHI Group, Inc. management's current views concerning future events and financial performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties, and results may differ materially from the outcomes contained in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these forward-looking statements to differ from actual results include the risks and uncertainties discussed in the company's periodic reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

DHI Group, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. Lastly, on today's call, management will reference specific financial measures including adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin, free cash flow, and non-GAAP earnings per share, which are not prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Information regarding those non-GAAP measures and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are available in our earnings press release, which can be found on our website at dhigroupinc.com in the Investor Relations section. With that, I will now turn the conference over to Art Zeile, CEO of DHI Group, Inc.

Art Zeile: Thank you, Todd Kehrli, and good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. At DHI Group, Inc., our mission is simple. We help employers connect with highly skilled technology professionals through two platforms, ClearanceJobs and Dice. Both of which serve critical roles in the tech hiring ecosystem. Our exclusive focus on tech occupations, combined with ongoing product innovation, gives us a durable competitive advantage. Today, approximately 6,000 employers and staffing and recruiting companies subscribe to our platforms, and approximately 90% of our revenue is recurring. ClearanceJobs is the leading marketplace for professionals with active U.S. security clearances, serving approximately 1,700 customers including Lockheed, Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, Raytheon, and many others.

With 2 million candidates on our platform, we have the largest number of profiles of U.S. cleared professionals, giving ClearanceJobs a significant competitive advantage as a platform for hiring cleared tech talent for the defense sector. Dice is essentially LinkedIn for tech hiring, built over 35 years with 7.8 million profiles in our database, representing the vast majority of technology professionals in the United States. While LinkedIn emphasizes a person's title, we focus on tech skills, of which there are over 100,000 distinct skills in our data model. Tech professionals on Dice actively update their profiles with new skills, making Dice the most relevant platform for recruiters who need to source tech talent.

With these two platforms, we have become an essential software tool used by employers and recruiters to find top tech talent for their open positions. This quarter reflects a company executing well against a clear strategy, with strong momentum in ClearanceJobs and encouraging early progress across our strategic initiatives. Let me start with ClearanceJobs, which remains the primary growth engine for DHI Group, Inc. In the first quarter, we achieved revenue growth of 5% and bookings growth of 7% year-over-year. Additionally, ClearanceJobs delivered an adjusted EBITDA margin of 40%. This underscores the strength of the underlying business and improving demand trends.

We are also seeing a more positive market environment following the passage of the U.S. defense budget in late January. While there is typically a lag between budget approval and hiring activity, customer sentiment has improved significantly, and we are beginning to see that reflected in stronger engagement and demand. The $1 trillion U.S. defense budget for fiscal year 2026 represents a substantial one-year increase over the previous year's budget. Additionally, NATO countries are increasing their defense budgets, aiming to allocate 5% of GDP, which could lead to more than $500 billion in additional spending annually, with U.S. contractors likely to receive a substantial share of this expenditure. These dynamics are promising for ClearanceJobs.

With over 10,000 employers of cleared tech professionals and more than 100 government agencies in need of them, ClearanceJobs has a significant growth opportunity as government contractors look to staff new projects. We believe we are in the early stages of this growth cycle. Consistent with ClearanceJobs’ “expand the mission” strategy, we acquired Point Solutions Group, or PSG, inside the quarter and are encouraged by the early results. In a short period, we have increased the number of contractors deployed and grown the number of active contracts with major prime contractors. We are also seeing strong engagement from those partners as we develop and deepen relationships and pursue additional opportunities.

While still early, the initial performance supports our strategy to expand the ClearanceJobs platform into adjacent high-value services and further monetize the relationships we have built over the past 24 years. Our Agile ATS business also continues to make steady progress. While still modest in scale, we are consistently adding customers and increasing sales investment to support future growth. We are also seeing early traction with our premium candidate subscription on ClearanceJobs. Since its formal launch in mid-February, adoption has surpassed expectations with quick growth in paid subscribers. Although the immediate revenue impact is modest, this is an important new long-term monetization opportunity. Stepping back, our strategy is clear.

We are leveraging the strength of the ClearanceJobs platform and our longstanding relationships with top government contractors to grow into related services in talent acquisition and management. This platform-driven approach positions us for sustained long-term growth. Turning to Dice, we are beginning to see the signs of stabilization in the tech hiring market. As CompTIA stated in its report on the month of March, companies are beginning to move away from the more conservative approaches of the past year and are considering investments in talent that support strategic digital initiatives. Leading indicators, including job postings and customer activity, are improving, and we are seeing increased engagement from both staffing firms and commercial customers.

There were more than 537,000 job postings for tech positions in March, including 254,000 new postings, an increase of 19% year-over-year. While we are not yet seeing a recovery in Dice bookings, the trend lines are encouraging. AI continues to be the most important long-term driver. As of March 2026, 67% of U.S. tech job postings required AI-related skills, more than double the 29% we saw a year ago. Over that same period, job postings requiring machine learning skills have increased 167%. We view this as a powerful validation of our strategy. Rather than reducing the need for talent, AI is increasing demand for highly skilled technical professionals.

Dice is well positioned here, with a deep skills-based model that allows employers to identify candidates based on more than 360 distinct AI-related skills. Rather than treating AI as a single generic category, Dice enables employers to identify and match candidates based on specific skill sets, an increasingly critical capability as AI roles become more specialized. We have also made it easier for candidates to access Dice job postings by being the first career platform with a Claude connector. This is only one of many Dice features that implement an AI model solution.

As you recall, we enabled two self-service options for Dice late last year, and we are already seeing a steady progression of transactions as we ramp our marketing campaign spend. While near-term performance will depend on the pace of recovery in the broader tech hiring market, we believe Dice is strategically well positioned, especially as demand for AI-related skills continues to grow. From a financial perspective, DHI Group, Inc. continues to generate strong free cash flow supported by our subscription model and disciplined cost structure. This allows us to take a balanced approach to capital allocation: investing in growth initiatives, pursuing strategic acquisitions, and returning capital to shareholders through an active share repurchase program.

As a reminder, our board approved a $10 million share repurchase program in the first quarter, demonstrating our confidence in the company's long-term value. In summary, we believe DHI Group, Inc. is uniquely positioned at the intersection of two powerful and durable trends: increasing global defense spending and growing demand for highly specialized technology talent, particularly in AI. ClearanceJobs continues to demonstrate strong growth and expanding opportunity as government and contractor demand accelerates, while Dice is well positioned to benefit from an eventual recovery in tech hiring, supported by our differentiated skills-based approach and continued product innovation. At the same time, we are successfully extending our platforms into adjacent services, creating new monetization opportunities and deepening our relationships with customers.

Importantly, our highly recurring revenue model and strong free cash flow give us the flexibility to invest for growth while continuing to return capital to shareholders. Taken together, we believe we are building a more durable, high-growth business with multiple levers for value creation. With that, I will turn the call over to Greg Schippers to walk you through the financial results in more detail.

Greg Schippers: Thank you, Art Zeile, and good afternoon, everyone. I will start with a brief overview of our first quarter results before walking through each of the segments in more detail. While total revenue and bookings declined year-over-year, our results reflect the continued strength of ClearanceJobs, which delivered both revenue and bookings growth, as well as the benefits of the actions we have taken to improve efficiency across the business. Importantly, we delivered solid adjusted EBITDA growth and margin expansion in the quarter along with strong free cash flow generation.

Overall, our performance highlights the durability of our subscription-based model, the growth opportunity in ClearanceJobs, and the significantly improved profitability we are seeing in Dice as we position the business for an eventual recovery. With that context, let us turn to our segment performance, starting with ClearanceJobs. ClearanceJobs revenue was $14 million, up 5% year-over-year and roughly flat compared to the prior quarter. Bookings for ClearanceJobs were $18 million, up 7% year-over-year. PSG, acquired at the end of February, contributed $700,000 of revenue and bookings in the quarter for ClearanceJobs. We ended the first quarter with 1,741 ClearanceJobs recruitment package customers, which was down 8% on a year-over-year basis and down 2% on a sequential basis.

ClearanceJobs accounts spending greater than $15,000 in annual recurring revenue increased versus the prior year. Our average annual revenue per ClearanceJobs recruitment package customer was $27,286, up 6% year-over-year and roughly flat on a sequential basis. Approximately 90% of ClearanceJobs revenue is recurring and comes from annual or multi-year contracts. For the quarter, ClearanceJobs’ revenue renewal rate was 88%, and ClearanceJobs’ retention rate was 105%. The revenue renewal rate was negatively impacted by a customer with annual spend over $500,000 that did not renew in the quarter but is expected to return later this year. The solid retention rate demonstrates the continued value ClearanceJobs delivers in the recruitment of cleared professionals.

Dice revenue was $15.7 million, which was down 17% year-over-year and down 10% sequentially. Dice bookings were $20.2 million, down 20% year-over-year. We ended the quarter with 3,832 Dice recruitment package customers, which is down 7% from the last quarter and down 15% year-over-year. Dice’s revenue renewal rate was 71% for the quarter and its retention rate was 100%. The reduction in customer count and Dice’s renewal rate from the prior-year quarter continues to be attributable to churn with smaller customers spending less than $15,000 per year, representing 80% of the total churn on count and who are more likely to be impacted by the difficult macro environment and uncertainty.

We believe the introduction of our new Dice platform, which offers customers the flexibility of monthly subscriptions, will offset the churn among smaller accounts by lowering upfront commitments and improving affordability. Our average annual revenue per Dice recruitment package customer was $15,466, down 6% year-over-year and down 1% sequentially. As with ClearanceJobs, approximately 90% of Dice revenue is recurring and comes from annual or multi-year contracts. Deferred revenue at the end of the quarter was $44.5 million, down 12% from the first quarter of last year. Our total committed contract backlog at the end of the quarter was $99 million, down 8% from the end of the first quarter last year.

Short-term backlog was $77.2 million at the end of the quarter and long-term backlog, that is revenue to be recognized in 13 or more months, was $21.8 million. Both brands onboarded notable clients in the first quarter. For ClearanceJobs, this includes Akamai Intelligence, SynthB, and Michigan Technological University, while Dice landed Avra Health, Fourth Uget Tech, and Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation as customers in Q1. Now, let us move to operating expenses. For the quarter, our operating expenses decreased $15 million, or 36%, to $26.6 million when compared to $41.6 million in the year-ago quarter.

Improvements to our operating efficiency, including the Dice Employer Experience Platform, along with adjusting the business for the difficult market environment over the past few years, have significantly reduced our annual operating expenses and capitalized development costs. For the quarter, we had income tax expense of $1 million on income before taxes of $2.5 million. Our tax rate for the quarter differed from our approximate statutory rate of 25% due to the tax impacts of stock-based compensation. Although our income subject to tax has grown, the tax law change in 2025, which allows for the immediate deduction of R&D costs, partially offset our 2026 cash outlay for income taxes.

Moving on to the bottom line, we recorded net income of $1.5 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, in the quarter. For the prior-year quarter, we reported a net loss of $9.8 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, which included a $7.8 million Dice goodwill impairment charge and a $2.3 million restructuring charge. Non-GAAP earnings per share for the quarter was $0.08 compared to $0.04 per share for the prior-year quarter. Diluted shares outstanding for the quarter were 42.4 million, down 3.1 million shares, or 7%, from the prior-year quarter as we continue to return cash to shareholders through our share repurchase program.

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $8.1 million, a margin of 27%, compared to $7 million, or a margin of 22%, a year ago. On a segmented basis, ClearanceJobs adjusted EBITDA remained strong at $5.7 million in the first quarter, representing a 40% adjusted EBITDA margin, as compared to adjusted EBITDA of $5.7 million, or a margin of 43%, in the prior-year period. Dice’s adjusted EBITDA increased to $4.3 million, representing a 28% adjusted EBITDA margin, compared to $3.4 million and an 18% margin last year. Operating cash flow for the first quarter was $8.4 million compared to $2.2 million in the prior-year period.

Free cash flow, which is operating cash flows less capital expenditures, was $6.8 million for the first quarter compared to $88,000 in the first quarter of last year. Our capital expenditures, which consist primarily of capitalized development costs, were $1.6 million in the first quarter compared to $2.2 million in the first quarter last year, an improvement of 24%. Capitalized development costs in the first quarter for ClearanceJobs were $577,000 compared to $362,000 a year ago, while capitalized development costs for Dice were $1 million this quarter as compared to $1.7 million a year ago. We are targeting total capital expenditures in 2026 to range between $7 million and $8 million as compared to $7.3 million last year.

From a liquidity perspective, at the end of the quarter, we had $3 million in cash and our total debt was $33 million, an increase of $3 million from the last quarter, despite cash outlays in the quarter of $5 million for the purchase of PSG and $4.7 million for the purchase of 2 million shares under our stock repurchase programs. Leverage at the end of the quarter was 0.91 times our EBITDA, and we continue to target one times leverage for the business. At the end of the quarter, we had $6.4 million remaining on our $10 million share repurchase program. Moving on to guidance, we continue to expect ClearanceJobs bookings to grow in 2026.

However, we do not anticipate Dice bookings growth resuming until tech hiring improves. As a result, we expect DHI Group, Inc. revenue of $124 million to $128 million for the full year, and for the second quarter, we expect revenue of $30 million to $32 million. For ClearanceJobs, with the addition of PSG, we expect revenue of $62 million to $64 million for the full year, and for the second quarter, we expect revenue of $15 million to $16 million. At Dice, we expect revenue of $62 million to $64 million for the full year, and for the second quarter, we expect revenue of $15 million to $16 million.

From a profitability standpoint, we continue to target a full-year adjusted EBITDA margin for DHI Group, Inc. of 25%, margins of 40% for ClearanceJobs, and 22% for Dice. Our focus remains on delivering long-term sustainable and profitable revenue growth along with strong free cash flow generation averaging at or above 10% of revenues. To wrap up, although the hiring environment over the past few years has impacted our revenue growth, we remain optimistic about the road ahead. We anticipate the record-breaking defense budget will be a growth driver for ClearanceJobs and that companies across all industries will steadily increase their investments in technology initiatives, creating a strong growth opportunity for both ClearanceJobs and Dice.

We remain focused on strengthening our industry-leading solutions, optimizing our go-to-market strategy, and executing with efficiency, ensuring we are well positioned to capitalize on the opportunities that lie ahead. And with that, let me turn the call back to Art Zeile. I want to thank all of our team members once again for their outstanding work this quarter. It is a pleasure to be part of such a great team. That said, we are happy to answer your questions.

Operator: We will now open the call for questions. Please press star then 2. Our first question comes from Gary Prestopino with Barrington Research.

Gary Prestopino: Hi, good afternoon. Art Zeile and Greg Schippers, hey. Greg Schippers, what was the— I am sorry, I did not get the chance to write down the capitalized development costs. What were they in the quarter?

Greg Schippers: In the quarter, the capitalized development costs were $1.6 million, Gary Prestopino.

Gary Prestopino: Okay, $1.6 million. And then with the acquisition of PSG, is that really entirely the reason for the increase in the revenue range at ClearanceJobs, or are you performing better than you expected from the start of the year?

Greg Schippers: Good question, Gary Prestopino. That is purely related to the revenue from PSG at this stage. We anticipated some improvement within ClearanceJobs in the budget, but more in the bookings area as opposed to revenue, which, as you may recall, had some bookings challenges in the mid to latter part of 2025. As that converts to revenue, that is going to challenge revenue in 2026, minus PSG.

Gary Prestopino: And then lastly, I will jump off and let somebody else go. Dice retention increased to 100% from 92%, which basically means you are getting good renewals and you are not losing that base business, I suppose, as I am reading that right. Is that kind of a good, somewhat of a leading indicator for Dice, or am I just reading that wrong?

Greg Schippers: Gary Prestopino, you are reading that absolutely correctly. We are seeing a stabilization in demand in the environment. It is consistent with the fact that Staffing Industry Analysts, as well as a number of resources, have indicated that we have crossed the line for tech staffing, and it is going to be a growth area for 2026. We are seeing that sentiment improve across our staffing firms.

Gary Prestopino: Okay. Thank you.

Greg Schippers: Thank you, Gary Prestopino. Appreciate it.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question today comes from Max Michaelis with Lake Street. Please go ahead.

Max Michaelis: Hey, thanks for taking my question. First one from me: we look at the CompTIA and the job postings, so I think you said 537,000 jobs for the month of March and then 254,000 new jobs. I know a lot of it is related to AI, but you said you have not really seen an uptick in bookings from that. I figured you would have. Is there a reason why? Has there always been kind of a lagging effect with CompTIA and the impact on bookings? And then, with that, what are some of the things you are hearing from your customers?

Is it going to be more of a late 2026 period where they see more business coming onto your platform?

Art Zeile: That is a great question, Max Michaelis. The number of new tech job postings is definitely a leading indicator. Historically, our customers’ contracts start in every month of the year. There is a bit of a crescendo in December and January as they think about how they are going to renew in forward months based on what they are seeing today in terms of new tech job postings. But it is pretty significant. As I said, 19% growth in March 2026 over March 2025 is a strong signal.

As an aside, Staffing Industry Analysts just posted an article yesterday entitled “IT staffing turning the corner,” and Bloomberg, the same day, posted an article entitled “Companies increasingly favor temps over permanent hires.” They are coupled dynamics. In this environment, it is a less risky move to go to a staffing agency for your tech hiring needs rather than going to permanent hires. It is all coming together right now. So, really, the impact of this, you will see that towards the end of 2026. It is going to play out over the course of the year, and those set to renew in the third and fourth quarters are probably now starting to factor in that demand is increasing.

And 254,000 new jobs is a significant increase over the roughly 200,000 jobs that we saw most of last year, so it is a pretty good signal.

Max Michaelis: Okay, that makes sense. And if we look at some of the acquisitions you have made—Point Solutions and Agile ATS—you said they were performing better than what you had originally expected. Is that just from a revenue standpoint, or anything else you can share to give a better understanding of how these are outperforming?

Art Zeile: That comment on the earnings call was intended to focus on Agile ATS. I would say that bookings and revenue are performing better than expected, although it was a pretty small base when we acquired the company back in July. For PSG, Point Solutions Group, it is a little too early to tell. We closed that transaction right at the end of February, and we are moving into the integration phase. The good news is we have established two new relationships—two new subcontracts to primes—even within that short period. It feels like we are on our way.

Max Michaelis: Alright, last one for me and then I will hang up the mic. It seems to be a common theme you are acquiring companies in the defense space. Is there an active pipeline right now where you could see yourself acquiring another one of these companies in that defense-adjacent landscape?

Art Zeile: Yes. True to what we described, we view ClearanceJobs as a platform, and we have trusted relationships with 1,800 very important military contractors. We want to sell them more, especially in that talent acquisition and management space. There is a view to additional tuck-in acquisitions over time.

Max Michaelis: Awesome. Thanks, guys.

Art Zeile: Thank you, Max Michaelis. Appreciate it.

Operator: Our next question comes from Kevin Liu at K. Liu and Company LLC. Please go ahead.

Kevin Liu: Hi, good afternoon, guys. I know on ClearanceJobs a lot of the traction there and momentum is tied to defense funding, but I was curious if you had any exposure to DHS and whether you think the recent funding approval there resuscitates any deals you had in the pipeline?

Art Zeile: That is very insightful. One of our larger customers was the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, which is a division of DHS, and they did not renew last year. I think that was based on two factors: their funding was uncertain at the time, and there was a hiring freeze across most government institutions. We believe, based on reporting indicating they are down in staffing by 40%, that they will be allowed to hire again, and they are going to need a platform to do so. So there are elements of the government that will be freed by this DHS funding and the need to plug holes in really critical areas.

Kevin Liu: Got it. And just related to that, you referenced a large contract that had not renewed early in the year but should come back later in the year. Was that related to this at all, or is that a separate deal?

Art Zeile: It was unrelated. In that case, the customer, in a cost-saving move, believed they could move to a competitor of ours called clearedjobs.net, a platform roughly one-twentieth our size. They have already admitted that this was probably not in their best interest. We are still in discussions with them and hope they will renew a subscription at their next budget cycle, which is in the third quarter.

Kevin Liu: Alright, sounds good. Then, I am hoping you could put a finer point on the contribution from Point Solutions Group. What is the expected contribution to the revenue line both in Q2 and the full year?

Greg Schippers: Hey, Kevin Liu. We uplifted our guidance by approximately $6 million for the full year, and that is roughly where we expect PSG to land for this 10-month period.

Kevin Liu: Alright, that is helpful. And then lastly for me, as it seems like the environment starts to turn here, how are you thinking about the timing of maybe investing a bit more on either the sales or marketing side?

Art Zeile: Great question. We have been conservative, especially over the last three years as we waited for this tech hiring recession to resolve. For ClearanceJobs, because we see a clear signal associated with the defense budget being put into law this past January and robust interest, that is where we would hire more people into sales and have more marketing spend at this point in time. But it is early days. We want to see that play out and see stabilization and increasing demand before we do so. I would not assume we are going to change our sales and marketing pattern for either brand for now, but we are assessing it in real time for the remainder of the year.

One other thing to add is we do have some additional investment in marketing for Dice, specifically related to the self-service platform—the digital experience platform—in the remainder of the year to drive some revenue from that platform.

Kevin Liu: Understood. Appreciate the extra color there, and congrats on a solid start to the year.

Art Zeile: Thank you. Really appreciate that, Kevin Liu. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you. That concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Art Zeile for any closing remarks.

Art Zeile: Thank you, and thank you all for joining us today. As always, if you have any questions about our company, or would like to speak with management, please reach out to Todd Kehrli, and he will assist you in arranging a meeting. Thank you, everyone, for your interest in DHI Group, Inc., and have a great Cinco de Mayo.

Operator: Thank you, sir. Everyone, that concludes our conference for today. We thank you all for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines and have a wonderful evening.

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