Golf Clap for Paychex

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Paychex (NAS: PAYX) reported earnings on Dec. 20. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Nov. 30 (Q2), Paychex met expectations on revenues and met expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue grew and GAAP earnings per share grew.


Margins grew across the board.

Revenue details
 Paychex reported revenue of $569.4 million. The 17 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected sales of $573.1 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 4.3% higher than the prior-year quarter's $545.7 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at $0.41. The 21 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.41 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.41 for Q2 were 5.1% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.39 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 71.1%, 140 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 40.4%, 50 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 26.0%, 30 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $602.0 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.40.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $2.34 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.60.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 1,475 members out of 1,547 rating the stock outperform, and 72 members rating it underperform. Among 548 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 534 give Paychex a green thumbs-up, and 14 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Paychex is hold, with an average price target of $33.06.

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The article Golf Clap for Paychex originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson owned shares of the following at the time of publication: Paychex. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Motley Fool newsletter services recommend Paychex. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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