Third-quarter revenue at ASGN Inc. (NYSE: ASGN) rose 11.6% year over year. The increase was 8.4%, excluding contributions from acquisitions. Gross margin also improved.

“As evidenced by our results, demand for ASGN’s IT services and solutions remained high in the third quarter,” CEO Ted Hanson said. “Record revenues of $1.2 billion were above the midpoint of our guidance range, improving 11.6% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA of $148.7 million, also surpassed the mid-point of guidance, improving 8.9% year-over-year.”

Growth during the quarter was largely driven by ASGN’s commercial segment — specifically the commercial consulting business, where new bookings increased 36.9% year over year.

The Richmond, Virginia-based firm acquired Iron Vine Security, a provider of cybersecurity programs for federal customers during the quarter. ASGN also acquired GlideFast Consulting, a ServiceNow partner and IT consulting, implementation and development company that became part of ASGN’s commercial consulting business. 

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Guidance

ASGN forecasts fourth-quarter revenue will rise between $1.12 billion and $1.14 billion, a year-over-year increase of between 6.6% and 8.5%.

Share price and market cap

Shares in ASGN were down 6.39% to $87.60 as of 12:25 p.m. Eastern time; they were 11.94% above their 52-week high, according to FT.com. The company had a market cap of $4.79 billion.