Paychex (PAYX) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer ADP or PAYX?

Automatic Data Processing presently has a consensus price target of $317.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.11%. Paychex has a consensus price target of $149.70, indicating a potential upside of 10.53%. Given Paychex's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Paychex is more favorable than Automatic Data Processing.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Automatic Data Processing	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.17
Paychex	1 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.91

Is ADP or PAYX more profitable?

Paychex has a net margin of 29.75% compared to Automatic Data Processing's net margin of 19.84%. Automatic Data Processing's return on equity of 72.84% beat Paychex's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Automatic Data Processing	19.84%	72.84%	7.33%
Paychex	29.75%	45.01%	14.77%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, 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	$20.56B	5.83	$4.08B	$9.98	29.66
Paychex	$5.57B	8.74	$1.66B	$4.57	29.64

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 2.1%. Paychex pays an annual dividend of $4.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Automatic Data Processing pays out 61.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Paychex pays out 94.5% 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 increased its dividend for 49 consecutive years and Paychex has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of ADP or PAYX?

80.0% of Automatic Data Processing shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.5% of Paychex shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Automatic Data Processing shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 11.4% of Paychex shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, ADP or PAYX?

Automatic Data Processing has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Paychex has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor ADP or PAYX?

In the previous week, Automatic Data Processing had 23 more articles in the media than Paychex. MarketBeat recorded 42 mentions for Automatic Data Processing and 19 mentions for Paychex. Paychex's average media sentiment score of 1.50 beat Automatic Data Processing's score of 1.27 indicating that Paychex is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Automatic Data Processing	30 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Paychex	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Automatic Data Processing beats Paychex on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.