Forensic Analysis · Professional & Commercial Services · as of Aug 8, 2026

Paychex Inc (PAYX)

A forensic read on Paychex Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

A · High-quality compounder

Forensic grade

Safe

Financial health

5.7

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

24.1

P / E (ttm)

47.1%

ROE

$42.7B

Market cap

3.96%

Dividend yield

16.9%

Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Paychex Inc earns an A (High-quality compounder) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.7, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share count.

What the filings flag

-0.2%/yr

FY2023–FY2026

Share count. Diluted share count changed -1% over the last 3 years to FY2026 (-0.2%/yr). Roughly flat — buybacks ($611M) are about offsetting stock comp ($96M), not shrinking the count. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.

95% of FCF

FY2026

Shareholder returns. Returned $2.2B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 95% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has been CLIMBING toward the limit — 75% of free cash flow a few years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $96M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 99%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$6.51B

Revenue Growth YoY+16.9%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)+9.2%

Net Margin27.0%

Free Cash Flow$2.32B

Return on Equity47.1%

Debt / Equity1.22x

The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Paychex Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 8, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.