Paychex (PAYX) Competitors

Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) and Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, community ranking, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment and analyst recommendations.

Which has more volatility & risk, ADP or PAYX?

Automatic Data Processing has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Paychex has a beta of 0.88, meaning that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, ADP or PAYX?

Automatic Data Processing has higher revenue and earnings than Paychex. Paychex is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Automatic Data Processing, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Automatic Data Processing	$18.78B	6.57	$3.75B	$9.59	31.55
Paychex	$5.44B	9.88	$1.69B	$4.80	31.08

Is ADP or PAYX more profitable?

Paychex has a net margin of 32.02% compared to Automatic Data Processing's net margin of 19.76%. Automatic Data Processing's return on equity of 80.86% beat Paychex's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Automatic Data Processing	19.76%	80.86%	6.83%
Paychex	32.02%	45.28%	15.61%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ADP or PAYX?

Automatic Data Processing received 298 more outperform votes than Paychex when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 58.11% of users gave Automatic Data Processing an outperform vote while only 41.33% of users gave Paychex an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Automatic Data Processing	Outperform Votes 641 58.11%	Underperform Votes 462 41.89%
Paychex	Outperform Votes 343 41.33%	Underperform Votes 487 58.67%

Is ADP or PAYX a better dividend stock?

Automatic Data Processing pays an annual dividend of $6.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Paychex pays an annual dividend of $3.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Automatic Data Processing pays out 64.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Paychex pays out 81.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Automatic Data Processing has raised its dividend for 49 consecutive years.

Does the media prefer ADP or PAYX?

In the previous week, Paychex had 6 more articles in the media than Automatic Data Processing. MarketBeat recorded 47 mentions for Paychex and 41 mentions for Automatic Data Processing. Automatic Data Processing's average media sentiment score of 1.50 beat Paychex's score of 1.02 indicating that Automatic Data Processing is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Automatic Data Processing	32 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Paychex	24 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in ADP or PAYX?

80.0% of Automatic Data Processing shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.5% of Paychex shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Automatic Data Processing shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.4% of Paychex shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate ADP or PAYX?

Automatic Data Processing currently has a consensus target price of $302.30, suggesting a potential downside of 0.10%. Paychex has a consensus target price of $141.00, suggesting a potential downside of 5.47%. Given Automatic Data Processing's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Automatic Data Processing is more favorable than Paychex.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Automatic Data Processing	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.10
Paychex	2 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.83

Summary

Automatic Data Processing beats Paychex on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.