Paychex Financial Ratios
NASDAQ: PAYXIndustrialsDiversified Commercial ServicesUSD
At close: Oct 9, 4:00 PM ET · Delayed 15 min
Paychex ratio analysis
Paychex earned a net margin of 27.0% in FY 2026, down from 29.7% a year earlier. Gross margin was 74.3% compared with a median of 70.2% over the prior 8 years. Return on equity reached 47.1%, meaning Paychex generated 0.47 dollars of profit for every dollar of shareholders' equity.
Debt-to-equity stood at 1.22 versus 1.20 the year before, and the current ratio was 1.26. At the end of FY 2026, PAYX traded at 19.8 times earnings; across the 10 fiscal years shown, its year-end P/E ranged from 19.8 to 34.5, with a median of 25.9. Valuation ratios use the closing share price on each fiscal year-end date and diluted shares from the income statement; profitability and leverage ratios use reported annual figures. Current valuation multiples are on the statistics page.
Summary generated from market data by MetaCap's automated system. Methodology
Paychex financial ratios (annual)
| Ratio | FY 2026 | FY 2025 | FY 2024 | FY 2023 | FY 2022 | FY 2021 | FY 2020 | FY 2019 | FY 2018 | FY 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E ratio (at fiscal year end) | 19.83 | 34.48 | 25.73 | 25.64 | 32.76 | 33.85 | 23.78 | 30.00 | 24.17 | 26.00 |
| Price / sales | 5.34 | 10.21 | 8.20 | 7.94 | 9.84 | 9.10 | 6.41 | 8.17 | 7.07 | 6.76 |
| Price / book | 9.32 | 13.78 | 11.39 | 11.37 | 14.70 | 12.52 | 9.32 | 11.76 | 10.13 | 9.57 |
| Gross margin | 74.3% | 72.4% | 72.0% | 71.0% | 70.6% | 68.7% | 68.3% | 68.8% | 69.9% | — |
| Operating margin | 38.6% | 39.6% | 41.2% | 40.6% | 39.9% | 36.0% | 36.1% | 36.3% | 38.2% | 39.8% |
| Net margin | 27.0% | 29.7% | 32.0% | 31.1% | 30.2% | 27.1% | 27.2% | 27.4% | 29.4% | 26.2% |
| Free cash flow margin | 35.7% | 30.7% | 32.9% | 31.2% | 31.6% | 28.1% | 32.5% | 30.4% | 33.2% | 27.5% |
| Return on equity (ROE) | 47.1% | 40.1% | 44.5% | 44.6% | 45.1% | 37.2% | 39.5% | 39.5% | 42.2% | 37.1% |
| Return on assets (ROA) | 10.9% | 10.0% | 16.3% | 14.8% | 14.5% | 11.9% | 12.8% | 11.9% | 12.6% | 12.1% |
| Debt / equity | 1.22 | 1.20 | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.26 | 0.27 | 0.29 | 0.30 | 0.00 | — |
| Current ratio | 1.26 | 1.28 | 1.37 | 1.30 | 1.25 | 1.25 | 1.23 | 1.17 | 1.11 | 1.12 |
| Revenue growth | 16.9% | 5.6% | 5.4% | 8.6% | 13.7% | 0.4% | 7.1% | 11.7% | 7.1% | 6.8% |
| EPS growth | 6.8% | -1.9% | 8.6% | 12.0% | 26.7% | -0.3% | 6.3% | 4.0% | 20.6% | 9.1% |