Paychex (PAYX) Free Cash Flow (2009 - 2026)
Paychex's Free Cash Flow was $357.4 million in fiscal Q1 2027 (quarter ended Aug 31, 2026), down 46.1% from $662.5 million a year earlier and down 30.6% from the prior quarter.
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Analysis
Paychex (PAYX) Free Cash Flow (2009 - 2026) Analysis & Trends
On a trailing twelve-month basis, Paychex's Free Cash Flow was $2.02 billion through Aug 31, 2026, up 8.4% year-over-year; for FY2026 (ended May 31, 2026), it was $2.32 billion, up 35.8% from FY2025.
- Free Cash Flow shows a five-year compound annual growth rate of 15.2% (FY2021 to FY2026).
- In earlier fiscal years, Free Cash Flow was $1.71 billion in FY2025 (-1.6%), $1.74 billion in FY2024 (+11.1%), $1.56 billion in FY2023 (+7.4%) and $1.46 billion in FY2022 (+27.5%).
- The fiscal Q1 2027 figure marks the lowest quarterly Free Cash Flow since fiscal Q4 2025.
- Compared with a year earlier, Free Cash Flow was higher in six of the last eight quarters, with growth averaging 23.6%.
- The best year-over-year quarter for Free Cash Flow over five years was fiscal Q2 2023 (growth of 136.1%); the worst was fiscal Q4 2024 (a decline of 51.4%).
- Per Business Quant data, PAYX's Free Cash Flow in the three fiscal quarters before Q1 2027 was $515 million (Q4 2026), $761.5 million (Q3 2026) and $382.8 million (Q2 2026).
Peer Set
Peer Comparison
| # | Company | Market Cap | Enterprise Value | Gross Profit (Qtr) | FCF (Qtr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palantir Technologies | 480.73 Bn | 449.68 Bn | 1.64 Bn | 1.20 Bn |
| 2 | Oracle | 399.91 Bn | 272.04 Bn | - | -5.40 Bn |
| 3 | Sap Se | 262.30 Bn | 190.08 Bn | 8.40 Bn | 3.80 Bn |
| 4 | Salesforce | 202.26 Bn | 158.13 Bn | 8.70 Bn | 1.10 Bn |
| 5 | ServiceNow | 153.84 Bn | 132.30 Bn | 2.82 Bn | 473.00 Mn |
| 6 | Automatic Data Processing | 114.84 Bn | 96.97 Bn | 2.51 Bn | 1.36 Bn |
| 7 | Intuit | 91.04 Bn | 70.38 Bn | 3.44 Bn | 1.30 Bn |
| 8 | Relx | 70.51 Bn | 69.60 Bn | - | - |
| 9 | Strategy | 53.24 Bn | 46.23 Bn | 81.55 Mn | -5.91 Mn |
| 10 | Paychex | 39.41 Bn | 34.49 Bn | 1.20 Bn | 350.50 Mn |
Historic Data
Download Data
Historic Data
| Date | Value |
|---|---|
| Aug 31, 2026 | 350.50 Mn |
| May 31, 2026 | 497.60 Mn |
| Feb 28, 2026 | 756.00 Mn |
| Nov 30, 2025 | 378.30 Mn |
| Aug 31, 2025 | 647.50 Mn |
| May 31, 2025 | 277.80 Mn |
| Feb 28, 2025 | 658.10 Mn |
| Nov 30, 2024 | 245.50 Mn |
| Aug 31, 2024 | 497.90 Mn |
| May 31, 2024 | 176.10 Mn |
| Feb 29, 2024 | 625.70 Mn |
| Nov 30, 2023 | 256.60 Mn |
| Aug 31, 2023 | 647.80 Mn |
| May 31, 2023 | 372.60 Mn |
| Feb 28, 2023 | 535.00 Mn |
| Nov 30, 2022 | 317.10 Mn |
| Aug 31, 2022 | 328.10 Mn |
| May 31, 2022 | 386.60 Mn |
| Feb 28, 2022 | 574.60 Mn |
| Nov 30, 2021 | 130.20 Mn |
API Access
Paychex Free Cash Flow API
Pull this series into your own models, spreadsheets and apps with the Business Quant
Historical Metrics API. The request below matches the chart above — change the
frequency, period or values and it follows. Swap YOUR_API_KEY for your own key.
https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=free-cash-flow&ticker=PAYX&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEYimport requests
url = "https://data.businessquant.com/historic"
params = {"slug": "free-cash-flow", "ticker": "PAYX", "period": "max", "api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
data = requests.get(url, params=params).json()const res = await fetch("https://data.businessquant.com/historic?slug=free-cash-flow&ticker=PAYX&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY");
const data = await res.json();