What You Need to Know About Paychex Inc's Q4 Earnings (2024)

Stock prices are established through investor’s expectations and adjusted as those expectations change or are proven wrong. A slight change in projections can have a major impact on stock prices, especially if the multiple, or price-earnings (P/E) ratio, that investors are willing to pay for a given level of earnings also expands or contracts. Stocks with high price-earnings ratios not only have high expectations, but they also possess a higher anticipated certainty of realizing their growth. Lower multiples reflect lower perceived prospects as well as greater risk and uncertainty of achieving results.

Earnings are a company’s net profit, measured either on a quarterly or annual basis. They represent the bottom-line amount of money that a company creates from its sales or revenue.

Companies of domestic, publicly traded U.S.-listed stocks are required to officially report their earnings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) every quarter, 40 days after the completion of their fiscal quarter. Large companies must file their annual results 60 days after completing their fiscal year-end. Note however, that many companies announce their quarterly and annual results well before their filing deadlines.

Understanding how to interpret a company’s earnings report can give you an advantage as an individual investor and will help you to determine if Paychex Inc’s (PAYX) stock is worth adding to your portfolio or not.

Key Takeaways From Paychex Inc’s Q4 Reported Earnings:

Earnings represent a company’s after-tax net income, which is its bottom line. Earnings are one of the most important metrics that investors assess in a company’s financial statements before deciding whether to invest or not. Let’s take a look at how Paychex Inc’s stock performed this quarter.

Earnings: $1.12 per share, versus the consensus estimate of $1.10 per share, according to AAII’s Stock Investor Pro, LSEG Data & Analytics and I/B/E/S.

Revenue: $1,439 million, versus $1,381 million in the same period one year ago. This represents year-over-year growth of 4.2%.

The table below gives a quick snapshot of key earnings data for Paychex Inc’s stock. You can see the analyst consensus, rating, recommendations, history and industry rank by becoming an A+ Investor subscriber.

For more information about Paychex Inc’s earnings and consensus data, click the button below to subscribe to A+ Investor or log into your existing account.

If you follow quarterly earnings reports and news coverage, you may hear that a specific company has “missed” or “beaten” its estimates. Earnings estimates are the profit forecasts made by brokerage firm analysts. The consensus earnings estimate is the average of all published forecasts for a specific company or index. The consensus earnings estimate is calculated by a small number of companies, such as I/B/E/S, who are given the data by the participating brokerage firms.

Stocks with earnings estimates may have anywhere from one to 30 or more analysts tracking and analyzing them. The number of analysts tracking a company depends on its size —large-cap stocks often have more coverage than small caps and mid-caps. The number of estimates provides a feel for the depth of coverage for a company.

This quarter, Paychex Inc’s stock beat analyst predictions for earnings per share during the Q4. This consensus estimate was based on several factors.

The current consensus earnings estimate for the next quarter for Paychex Inc (PAYX) is $1.18.

Revisions in earnings estimates reflect changes in expectations of future performance on the part of analysts. Perhaps the economic outlook is better than previously expected, or maybe a new product is selling better than anticipated.

For the next quarter, the consensus estimate for Paychex Inc’s stock is based on 15 analysts. Out of the 15 analysts who made earnings estimates, 6 analysts downgraded their estimate and 1 analysts upgraded their forecast over the last month.

You can view 30-, 60- AND 90-day quarterly consensus estimates as well as fiscal data for Paychex Inc by subscribing to A+ Investor.

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Revisions to earnings estimates lead to price adjustments similar to earnings surprises. Revisions are often precursors to earnings surprises. As the reporting period approaches, analyst estimates normally converge toward the consensus. A flurry of revisions near the reporting period can indicate that analysts missed the mark and are scrambling to improve their estimates.

When examining revisions, it is helpful to focus on the number of revisions. When compared to the number of analysts making estimates, this is confirmation of the significance of the percentage change in estimates. You can put more faith in a revision if a large percentage of the analysts tracking a firm have revised their estimates.

The stock market is considered to always be “forward-looking,” which means share prices are established based on the expectations that prospective investors have for the future earnings power of the company. In fact, expectations play a key role in determining if a stock’s price “gains” or “loses” when actual earnings are reported.

In the previous quarter, Paychex Inc reported $1.38 earnings per share on 4/2/2024, which was an earnings beat of 0.900%.

Since Paychex Inc last announced earnings on 6/26/2024, the stock price has not shown a significant increase or a decrease as of 6/27/2024. In comparison, the SPDR S&P; 500 ETF Trust (SPY) has not had a significant increase or decrease in price during the same time period.

As of 6/27/2024, Paychex Inc has a trailing 12-month earnings per share of $4.98. Its price-earnings ratio is currently 25.6 compared to the industry median of 21.3. Looking back, the company’s price-earnings ratio was 27.0 one year ago, while the forward price-earnings ratio is 23.6 using the consensus estimate for current year.

You can learn more about Paychex Inc’s overall value and earnings as well as evaluate other key financial metrics by subscribing to A+ Investor. A+ Investor provides investors with a robust suite of stock screening and analysis tools to invest with confidence.

Another aspect investors can look at when assessing a company’s earnings is historical data. Paychex Inc’s earnings have increased based upon earnings history over the last five years.

At AAII, we recommend that investors complete proper due diligence and research before investing in any company. It is considered best practice to evaluate multiple ratios, metrics, statements and reports before deciding if Paychex Inc is the right fit for your portfolio.

Estimate Revisions Grade:

A+ Investor provides investors with grades to help them determine how a company compares to those in the same industry. One of the five grades investors can view and compare stocks on is the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade.

When a company reports earnings for a specific quarter that differ from the consensus estimate, the difference is regarded as an earnings surprise. A positive earnings surprise occurs when the announced earnings are above the consensus estimate. In contrast, a negative earnings surprise takes place when earnings are below expectations. Companies that exhibit significant positive earnings surprises consequently show above-average price performance. Of course, companies that have negative surprises tend to experience below-average price performance.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Score considers the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises—or at least continued earnings growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. The Estimate Revisions Score is based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Paychex Inc has an Estimate Revisions Score of 44, which is Neutral.

With A+ Investor, you can utilize the powerful screening tools and database to find other stocks with favorable Estimate Revisions Grades. Here are a few of AAII’s screens that cover earnings estimates:

Unless you compare the company you are interested in against its peers, it can be tough to understand if it’s worth keeping an eye on or not. Since Paychex Inc is in the Employment Services industry of the Industrials sector, you will want to take a look at others in that same arena. Let’s see how Paychex Inc compares against other Employment Services companies.

You can also see from the table below how Paychex Inc’s Estimate Revisions Grade measures up against others in the same industry.

If you’re curious about how companies in the same industry compare in other categories such as value, growth, momentum or quality, you can subscribe to A+ Investor and get in-depth analysis on securities that could be a good fit for your portfolio.

It’s also important to review the Employment Services industry as a whole to understand how Paychex Inc has been performing over the last year compared to its peers.

So, based on this quarter’s earnings report, Paychex Inc may be worth keeping an eye on. Of course, this is based on the I/B/E/S consensus estimate of 15 analysts. Your decision as to whether you should invest in this company or just add it to your “watchlist” should be based on not only Paychex Inc’s earnings report but also its financial statements, ratios and other key metrics.

Investors should never buy or pass on a specific stock after looking solely at its earnings report because even if a company reports fantastic quarterly earnings, its forward guidance or other fundamentals may cause the stock to decline in price after the announcement. Investors will want to keep an eye on Paychex Inc to see if analysts increase or decrease consensus estimates for the upcoming quarters.

You should also never invest in a company based on one quarterly earnings report. Investors need to conduct additional research looking at past quarterly reports and trends before making their decision. Also, you should consider your own individual goals, risk tolerance and desired allocation. AAII can help you to figure out where you stand and how to identify which investments align with what works best for you.