Paychex (PAYX)
Forward P/E is 17.87x against a peer median of 19.61x, a ratio of 0.91x — inside the 0.90–1.15 fairly priced band — with trailing P/E 21.43x and PEG 2.29. The move to undervalued needs growth at or above the cluster median and a PEG at or below about 1.2; neither holds, so the label stays fairly priced. Latest-quarter revenue grew 5.9% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR). Delivered demand check: the Business services, data & distribution group's median growth was 7.2% year over year — demand steady, and this company is growing a little below that pace.
What would change this label: Move to UNDERVALUED if the forward P/E compresses to about 17.6x or below (0.90x the peer median) at unchanged estimates and the PEG falls to about 1.2 or below, with revenue growth rising to at least 7.2% year over year. Move to OVERVALUED if the forward P/E rises to about 22.6x or above (1.15x the peer median) at unchanged estimates, or if revenue growth falls below 3% year over year for two quarters.
Paychex provides payroll and human-resources services to small and mid-sized businesses. Its shares cost slightly less than similar companies, while sales grew a modest 5.9%. That makes the shares look fairly priced — the small discount is not enough, on growth and the growth-adjusted measure, to call them undervalued.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window Paychex returned +43.27% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for Paychex: -46.5% (2025-06-06 to 2026-04-10). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E is 17.87x against a peer median of 19.61x, a ratio of 0.91x — inside the 0.90–1.15 fairly priced band — with trailing P/E 21.43x and PEG 2.29. The move to undervalued needs growth at or above the cluster median and a PEG at or below about 1.2; neither holds, so the label stays fairly priced. Latest-quarter revenue grew 5.9% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR). Delivered demand check: the Business services, data & distribution group's median growth was 7.2% year over year — demand steady, and this company is growing a little below that pace. The company’s forward P/E is 17.9× against a peer median of 19.6×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Business services, data & distribution group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 7.2% year over year (SEC filings) — demand steady, and this company is growing a little below that pace at 5.9%. Latest-quarter sales growth was +5.9% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paychex (PAYX) | $108.05 | 17.9× | 21.4× |
| FERG | — | 19.4× | 22.5× |
| VRSK | — | 23.0× | 28.9× |
| EFX | — | 19.6× | 28.7× |
| BR | — | 16.8× | 18.5× |
| FAST | — | 37.3× | 41.6× |
| Peer median | 19.6× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
This company does not report a gross-profit line in its SEC facts (normal for banks, payment networks and some health insurers), so profit is shown as net income instead — gross margin is marked UNVERIFIED-absent rather than estimated.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Aug 2026 2026-08-31 | $1.6B | — | $430M | 1.21 | $357M |
| Q/E May 2026 2026-05-31 | $1.6B | — | $421M | — | $515M |
| Q/E Feb 2026 2026-02-28 | $1.8B | — | $560M | 1.56 | $762M |
| Q/E Nov 2025 2025-11-30 | $1.5B | — | $395M | 1.10 | $383M |
| Q/E Aug 2025 2025-08-31 | $1.5B | — | $384M | 1.06 | $662M |
| Q/E May 2025 2025-05-31 | $1.4B | — | $297M | — | $283M |
| Q/E Feb 2025 2025-02-28 | $1.5B | — | $519M | 1.43 | $667M |
| Q/E Nov 2024 2024-11-30 | $1.3B | — | $413M | 1.14 | $248M |
| Q/E Aug 2024 2024-08-31 | $1.3B | — | $427M | 1.18 | $510M |
| Q/E May 2024 2024-05-31 | $1.3B | — | $380M | — | $180M |
| Q/E Feb 2024 2024-02-29 | $1.4B | — | $499M | 1.38 | $631M |
| Q/E Nov 2023 2023-11-30 | $1.2B | — | $393M | 1.08 | $308M |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | PAYCHEX INC |
| Chief executive | John Gibson (source: https://www.paychex.com/newsroom/news-releases/paychex-2026-worlds-most-ethical-companies) |
| Sector | Industrials — Human Resource & Employment Services — provides payroll and human-resources services to small and mid-sized businesses |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $108.05 |
| Market value (market cap) | $38.9B — share price times shares outstanding of 355,980,473 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $6.4B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $1.8B |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | $2.0B |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Aug 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | +43.27% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -46.5% (2025-06-06 to 2026-04-10) |
What we could not verify
- Gross profit / gross margin: not tagged as a standalone line in this company's EDGAR company facts (common for banks, payment networks and some healthcare payers) — shown as UNVERIFIED-absent; the page charts revenue and net income instead.
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Own-history P/E (5-year median): not computed in the Phase 1 batch — UNVERIFIED
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000723531.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000723531.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/PAYX/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.