Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: What do you think of Paychex? Thanks for your help.

Article Excerpt

Paychex Inc., $42.30, symbol PAYX on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 363.1 million; Market cap: $15.4 billion; www.paychex.com), provides a range of human resources and payroll services, including accounting, salary deposits and automatic tax payment and filing. The company’s 580,000 clients are mostly small- to medium-sized businesses (10 to 200 employees). It operates about 100 offices in 41 states, as well as Germany and Brazil. Paychex gets 65% of its revenue from payroll services. The remaining 35% comes from human resources, including managing health insurance programs and pension plans. As well, Paychex recently started offering accounting and payment-processing services. In its 2014 fiscal year, which ended May 31, 2014, the company’s revenue rose 8.3% to $2.5 billion from $2.3 billion in fiscal 2013. Earnings gained 10.3%, to $627.5 million or $1.71 a share, from $569.0 million or $1.56. Paychex is debt-free and holds cash of $936.8 million, or $2.58 a share. It recently raised its quarterly dividend by 8.6%, to $0.38 a share from $0.35. The…