BMO Capital analyst Jeffrey Silber lowered his price target on ManPower to $136 despite the Q4 earnings beat. Silber notes that the buy-side may have been disappointed in the guidance in light of the benefits from the U.S. tax changes, saying that the French tax revisions could offset the U.S. impact. The analyst also points to a lock of a time frame for the company's new long-term financial targets but keeps his Outperform rating on ManPower.

"We anticipate diluted earnings per share in the second quarter will be between $1.24 and $1.34, which includes an estimated unfavorable currency impact of 7 cents and excludes unfavorable operating losses for the run-off Proservia Germany business estimated at 8 cents. Our guidance excludes any restructuring costs and any Argentina related impact of non-cash currency translation losses."

Reports Q1 revenue $4.4B, consensus $4.42B. Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup Chairman & CEO, said, "Employers in North America and Europe remain cautious as they wait for signs that the economic environment is on a sustainable path of improvement. In some of those markets demand for staffing and permanent recruitment stabilized at lower levels, while demand across Latin America and Asia Pacific Middle East remained solid. We continue to prioritize the execution of our strategic initiatives and are accelerating sales activities to drive profitable growth when demand trends strengthen. We anticipate diluted earnings per share in the second quarter will be between $1.24 and $1.34, which includes an estimated unfavorable currency impact of 7 cents and excludes unfavorable operating losses for the run-off Proservia Germany business estimated at 8 cents. Our guidance excludes any restructuring costs and any Argentina related impact of non-cash currency translation losses."