What to Expect From Paychex Earnings

Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) is scheduled to report its fiscal second-quarter financial results before the markets open on Tuesday. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $0.51 in earnings per share (EPS) on $724.47 million in revenue. In the same period of the previous year, it posted EPS of $0.47 and $676.3 million in revenue.

The company provides payroll, human resource, insurance and benefits outsourcing solutions for small to medium-sized businesses in the United States and Germany. Its payroll processing services include the calculation, preparation and delivery of employee payroll checks; production of internal accounting records and management reports; and preparation of federal, state and local payroll tax returns.

So far in its fiscal 2016 year, the company believes it is off to a good start as it has continued to experience positive results across its major product lines. In the previous quarter, payroll service revenue growth reached an expected 5%. The company expects to see continued strong demand for its human resources services, including double-digit growth in the number of client worksite employees served.

In terms of guidance, Paychex announced in its fiscal first-quarter report that it expects total service revenue to rise between 7% and 8%, while net income is expected to rise in a range of 8% to 9%. At that time, the consensus estimates called for EPS to increase from $1.85 in fiscal 2015 to $2.01, a jump of 8.6%. Total revenues were forecast to rise from $2.74 billion to $2.94 billion, up 7.3%.
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A few analysts weighed in on Paychex prior to its earnings report:

• Sterne Agee initiated coverage with a Neutral rating and a $57 price target.
• RBC Capital has an Underperform rating with a $47 price target.
• JPMorgan reiterated a Neutral rating with a $52 price target.

As 2015 is coming to a close, Paychex has outperformed the broad markets, with the stock up 17% year to date. However, over the past 52 weeks the stock is only up 13.5%.

Shares of Paychex were trading relatively flat at $52.56 on Monday, with a consensus analyst price target of $48.08 and a 52-week trading range of $41.59 to $54.78.