Paychex (PAYX) Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] (2016 - 2026)
Paychex (PAYX) posted Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] of 23.74% for fiscal Q1 2027 (quarter ended Aug 31, 2026), up 5.11 percentage points from 18.63% a year earlier and up 1.58 percentage points from the prior quarter.
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Analysis
Paychex (PAYX) Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] (2016 - 2026) Analysis & Trends
For FY2026 (ended May 31, 2026), Paychex's Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] came in at 22.00%, down 2.53 percentage points from FY2025.
- Annual Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] has declined for three consecutive fiscal years, with a five-year change of -8.48 percentage points (FY2021 to FY2026).
- In prior fiscal years, Paychex's Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] was 24.52% in FY2025 (-12.63 pp), 37.15% in FY2024 (-0.58 pp), 37.73% in FY2023 (+0.99 pp) and 36.75% in FY2022 (+6.27 pp).
- The fiscal Q1 2027 figure stands as the highest quarterly Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] since fiscal Q4 2025.
- On a year-over-year basis, Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] increased in 1 of the last eight quarters, with an average year-over-year change of -7.51 percentage points.
- The strongest year-over-year quarter for Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] in the past five years was fiscal Q4 2022, with a gain of 5.51 percentage points; the weakest was fiscal Q1 2026, with a drop of 17.27 percentage points.
- According to Business Quant data, Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] for the three prior fiscal quarters was 22.16% (Q4 2026), 20.01% (Q3 2026) and 19.17% (Q2 2026).
Peer Set
Peer Comparison
| # | Company | Market Cap | Enterprise Value | Gross Profit (Qtr) | ROIC (Qtr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palantir Technologies | 467.78 Bn | 436.73 Bn | 1.64 Bn | - |
| 2 | Oracle | 390.98 Bn | 263.11 Bn | - | 10.99% |
| 3 | Sap Se | 263.14 Bn | 190.92 Bn | 8.40 Bn | 35.90% |
| 4 | Salesforce | 198.23 Bn | 154.10 Bn | 8.70 Bn | 9.01% |
| 5 | ServiceNow | 150.00 Bn | 128.46 Bn | 2.82 Bn | - |
| 6 | Automatic Data Processing | 115.45 Bn | 97.58 Bn | 2.51 Bn | -46.53% |
| 7 | Intuit | 89.81 Bn | 69.16 Bn | 3.44 Bn | 16.71% |
| 8 | Relx | 71.52 Bn | 70.62 Bn | - | - |
| 9 | Strategy | 51.22 Bn | 44.21 Bn | 81.55 Mn | -73.94% |
| 10 | Paychex | 39.39 Bn | 34.48 Bn | 1.20 Bn | 23.74% |
Historic Data
Download Data
Historic Data
| Date | Value |
|---|---|
| Aug 31, 2026 | 23.74% |
| May 31, 2026 | 22.16% |
| Feb 28, 2026 | 20.01% |
| Nov 30, 2025 | 19.17% |
| Aug 31, 2025 | 18.63% |
| May 31, 2025 | 23.97% |
| Feb 28, 2025 | 35.65% |
| Nov 30, 2024 | 35.96% |
| Aug 31, 2024 | 35.90% |
| May 31, 2024 | 36.09% |
| Feb 29, 2024 | 36.57% |
| Nov 30, 2023 | 36.61% |
| Aug 31, 2023 | 36.16% |
| May 31, 2023 | 36.33% |
| Feb 28, 2023 | 36.57% |
| Nov 30, 2022 | 37.13% |
| Aug 31, 2022 | 37.10% |
| May 31, 2022 | 35.18% |
| Feb 28, 2022 | 34.25% |
| Nov 30, 2021 | 33.21% |
API Access
Paychex Return on Invested Capital [ROIC] 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=return-on-invested-capital-%5Broic%5D&ticker=PAYX&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEYimport requests
url = "https://data.businessquant.com/historic"
params = {"slug": "return-on-invested-capital-[roic]", "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=return-on-invested-capital-%5Broic%5D&ticker=PAYX&period=max&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY");
const data = await res.json();