Paychex (PAYX) Operating Margin (2009 - 2026)
Paychex (PAYX) recorded Operating Margin of 37.98% in fiscal Q1 2027 (quarter ended Aug 31, 2026), up 2.79 percentage points from 35.19% a year earlier and up 0.31 percentage points from the prior quarter.
Paychex (PAYX) Operating Margin (2009 - 2026) Analysis & Trends
On a TTM basis, Paychex's Operating Margin came in at 39.19% as of Aug 31, 2026, up 1.17 percentage points year-over-year; for FY2026 (ended May 31, 2026), it came in at 38.55%, down 1.07 percentage points from FY2025.
- Annual Operating Margin has a five-year change of +2.55 percentage points (FY2021 to FY2026).
- Across earlier fiscal years, Operating Margin came in at 39.62% in FY2025 (-1.57 pp), 41.19% in FY2024 (+0.59 pp), 40.60% in FY2023 (+0.71 pp) and 39.90% in FY2022 (+3.89 pp).
- Quarterly Operating Margin has ranged from 30.20% in fiscal Q4 2025 to 45.84% in fiscal Q3 2025 over the past five years.
- On a year-over-year basis, Operating Margin rose in four of the last eight quarters, with an average year-over-year change of -0.99 percentage points.
- Peak year-over-year performance for Operating Margin in the last five years was a gain of 7.46 percentage points in fiscal Q4 2026, against a drop of 7.00 percentage points in fiscal Q4 2025 at the low end.
- Per Business Quant, the preceding three fiscal quarters came in at 37.66% (Q4 2026), 43.78% (Q3 2026) and 36.72% (Q2 2026).
Peer Comparison
| # | Company | Market Cap | Enterprise Value | Gross Profit (Qtr) | Operating Margin (Qtr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palantir Technologies | 446.08 Bn | 415.03 Bn | 1.64 Bn | 47.12% |
| 2 | Oracle | 383.27 Bn | 255.40 Bn | - | 34.78% |
| 3 | Sap Se | 259.94 Bn | 187.72 Bn | 8.40 Bn | 26.76% |
| 4 | Salesforce | 196.56 Bn | 152.43 Bn | 8.70 Bn | 20.55% |
| 5 | ServiceNow | 145.18 Bn | 123.64 Bn | 2.82 Bn | 4.06% |
| 6 | Automatic Data Processing | 115.13 Bn | 97.25 Bn | 2.51 Bn | -33.33% |
| 7 | Intuit | 89.08 Bn | 68.43 Bn | 3.44 Bn | 10.91% |
| 8 | Relx | 71.30 Bn | 70.40 Bn | - | - |
| 9 | Thomson Reuters | 48.55 Bn | 45.33 Bn | - | 28.56% |
| 10 | Paychex | 39.17 Bn | 34.25 Bn | 1.20 Bn | 37.98% |
Historic Data
| Date | Value |
|---|---|
| Aug 31, 2026 | 37.98% |
| May 31, 2026 | 37.66% |
| Feb 28, 2026 | 43.78% |
| Nov 30, 2025 | 36.72% |
| Aug 31, 2025 | 35.19% |
| May 31, 2025 | 30.20% |
| Feb 28, 2025 | 45.84% |
| Nov 30, 2024 | 40.86% |
| Aug 31, 2024 | 41.46% |
| May 31, 2024 | 37.20% |
| Feb 29, 2024 | 45.15% |
| Nov 30, 2023 | 40.24% |
| Aug 31, 2023 | 41.70% |
| May 31, 2023 | 36.87% |
| Feb 28, 2023 | 44.31% |
| Nov 30, 2022 | 39.68% |
| Aug 31, 2022 | 41.09% |
| May 31, 2022 | 34.43% |
| Feb 28, 2022 | 44.11% |
| Nov 30, 2021 | 39.72% |
Paychex Operating Margin 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=operating-margin&ticker=PAYX&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEYimport requests
url = "https://data.businessquant.com/historic"
params = {"slug": "operating-margin", "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=operating-margin&ticker=PAYX&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY");
const data = await res.json();