Paychex, Inc.
PAYX Technology Software Application
Paychex, Inc.’s revenue for fiscal 2026 (year ended May 2026) was $6.5 billion, up 16.9% from fiscal 2025. In the quarter to August 2026, revenue grew 5.88%, EPS grew 13.1%, free cash flow fell 46.1% and total debt fell 8.27%, each against the same quarter a year earlier. Member of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100; dividend growth for ten consecutive years, revenue growth for ten, operating cash flow growth for five; insiders bought in the last twelve months.
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Paychex, Inc. (PAYX) Altman Z-score
Paychex, Inc.'s Altman Z-score for fiscal 2026 is 2.88, in the grey zone (1.81–2.99).
Altman Z-score, annual
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Annual newest first
| Period | Altman Z-score | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 2.88 | (0.97) |
| FY2025 | 3.85 | (1.81) |
| FY2024 | 5.67 | 0.88 |
| FY2023 | 4.79 | (0.81) |
| FY2022 | 5.61 | 0.79 |
| FY2021 | 4.82 | 0.71 |
| FY2020 | 4.11 | (0.24) |
| FY2019 | 4.35 | 0.53 |
| FY2018 | 3.82 | (0.15) |
| FY2017 | 3.97 | 0.04 |
How fiscal 2026’s score is made up
| Component | This year | Year before | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working capital / total assets | 0.11 | — | 0.13 | |
| Retained earnings / total assets | 0.11 | — | 0.16 | |
| EBIT / total assets | 0.16 | — | 0.51 | |
| Market value of equity / total liabilities | 2.80 | — | 1.68 | |
| Sales / total assets | 0.40 | — | 0.40 | |
| Altman Z-score | Grey zone | 2.88 | ||
| Z″ Variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies (drops the sales/assets term, uses book equity) | Grey zone | 2.44 | ||
How the Altman Z-score works
Z = 1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets (Altman, 1968). The market value of equity is the close on the last trading day of the fiscal year times weighted basic shares.
Z″ = 6.56 × working capital ÷ total assets + 3.26 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 6.72 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 1.05 × book equity ÷ total liabilities (Altman, Hartzell and Peck, 1995), the variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies.
| Zone | Z | Z″ |
|---|---|---|
| Safe zone | above 2.99 | above 2.60 |
| Grey zone | 1.81–2.99 | 1.10–2.60 |
| Distress zone | below 1.81 | below 1.10 |
Not worked out for banks, insurers and REITs, whose balance sheets the model does not describe, nor when a figure is missing or there is no share price in the week to the fiscal year end.
Altman Z-score against peers
| Company | Altman Z-score |
|---|---|
| ZM Zoom Communications, Inc. compare | 9.8× |
| PTC PTC Inc. compare | 6.6× |
| ADSK Autodesk, Inc. compare | 4.2× |
| WDAY Workday, Inc. compare | 3.5× |
| ROP Roper Technologies, Inc. compare | 3.0× |
| PAYX Paychex, Inc. | 2.9× |
| U Unity Software Inc. compare | 2.5× |
| TEAM Atlassian Corporation PLC compare | 1.9× |
| MSTR Strategy Inc compare | 1.3× |
What Altman Z-score is
The Altman Z-Score weighs working capital, retained earnings, operating profit, market value and sales against assets and debts to gauge the risk of distress.
1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets
More on PAYX
- Revenue
- Net income
- EPS (diluted)
- EBITDA
- Free cash flow
- Operating cash flow
- Gross margin
- Operating margin
- Net margin
- Free cash flow margin
- P/E ratio
- P/S ratio
- P/B ratio
- Price to free cash flow
- EV/EBITDA
- EV/Sales
- EV/FCF
- Return on equity
- Return on assets
- Return on invested capital
- Debt to equity
- Current ratio
- Total debt
- Shares outstanding
- Book value per share
- Revenue growth
- Piotroski F-score
- Beneish M-score
- The full statement