Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat: Can I have your recommendation on Paychex Inc. on Nasdaq. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: Paychex Inc., $68.10, symbol PAYX on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 359.2 million; Market cap: $24.3 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 605,000 clients are mostly small and medium-sized businesses (10 to 200 employees) throughout the U.S. and in Germany. It, in fact, processes paycheques for one out of every 12 American private-sector employees. Paychex gets 56% of its revenue from payroll services. The remaining 44% comes from several service areas: human resources outsourcing; employee benefits solutions, including managing health insurance programs and pension plans; and accounting and payment-processing services. Revenue rose 41.2% from $2.23 billion in 2011 to $3.15 billion in 2016. Over that same period, Paychex improved its earnings 49.1%, from $548.0 million, or $1.51 a share, in 2011 to $817.3 million in 2016, or $2.25 a share. In the three months ended November 30, 2017, revenue rose 7.1%, to $826.5 million from $771.4 million a..