MeritValue

Paylocity Holding Corp

PCTYdata completeness 100%15 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'investmentsAtFairValue'; no data for concept 'netInvestmentIncome'; no data for concept 'gainsOnRealEstateSales'; no data for concept 'realEstateImpairment'; no data for concept 'dividendsPaid'; no data for concept 'interestExpense'

The thesis, from the filings

Paylocity Holding Corp earns about 25% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 3% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $38.64 and $435.05 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025FY 2026
Revenue$847.7M1$1.1B2$1.28B3$1.47B3$1.65B3
Net income$90.8M4$140.8M5$206.8M6$227.1M6$269.7M6
Operating cash flow$155.1M7$282.7M8$384.7M9$418.2M9$533.3M9
Capital expenditure$18.1M10$21.9M11$18M12$13.1M12$36.2M12
Free cash flow (derived)$137M7$260.8M8$366.6M9$405.2M9$497.1M9
Total debt——$013$162.5M14$81.3M14
Cash & equivalents$139.8M15$288.8M16$401.8M17$398.1M17$271.9M17
Diluted shares56.4M56.6M57.0M56.5M54.8M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
$223.01
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$49.25
Free cash flow it threw off
$90.76
Debt you’d be carrying
$14.83

10 shares is a claim on $223.01 of net worth that earned you $49.25 and generated $90.76 of cash last year, against $14.83 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
25% avg · 5y
FY22 18%FY23 25%FY24 33%FY25 23%FY26 26%

It earned about 25% on invested capital, year after year, against a ~9% cost of capital — the footprint of real pricing power. Competition usually drags returns like this back down; here it hasn't.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−3% shares · 5y

Share count is down 3% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.5.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $38.64 and $435.05 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story; the Graham Number is a stricter floor, not a target.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$435.05
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.8%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$405.2M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$240.1
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.8%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$405.2M
Earnings Power Value
$38.64
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.8%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$206.8M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$50.38
assumptions (1)
  • grahamMultiplier2250.0%

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years20.0%
Discount rate (WACC)9.05%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $240.1
The three cases
Bear0.0%$107.32
Base20.0%$240.1
Bull20.0%$240.1

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 20.0%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0001591698-24-000151 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2023-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001591698-26-000069 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0001591698-24-000151 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2023-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001591698-26-000069 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0001591698-24-000151 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2023-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001591698-26-000069 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0001591698-24-000151 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001591698-26-000069 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (LongTermDebt)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2025-06-30 · accession 0001591698-26-000069 (LongTermDebt)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0001591698-24-000151 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2023-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001591698-26-000069 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)