MeritValue

Paylocity Holding Corp

PCTYdata completeness 100%14 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'interestExpense'

The thesis, from the filings

Paylocity Holding Corp earns about 24% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, with a roughly flat share count — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $25.81 and $390.85 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 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$631.7M1$847.7M2$1.1B3$1.28B3$1.47B3
Net income$70.8M4$90.8M5$140.8M6$206.8M6$227.1M6
Operating cash flow$124.9M7$155.1M8$282.7M9$384.7M9$418.2M9
Capital expenditure$9.46M10$18.1M11$21.9M12$18M12$13.1M12
Free cash flow (derived)$115.4M7$137M8$260.8M9$366.6M9$405.2M9
Total debt———$013$162.5M13
Cash & equivalents$202.3M14$139.8M15$288.8M16$401.8M16$398.1M16
Diluted shares56.3M56.4M56.6M57.0M56.5M

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
$218.17
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$40.16
Free cash flow it threw off
$71.65
Debt you’d be carrying
$28.74

10 shares is a claim on $218.17 of net worth that earned you $40.16 and generated $71.65 of cash last year, against $28.74 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
24% avg · 5y
FY21 21%FY22 18%FY23 25%FY24 33%FY25 23%

It earned about 24% 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
+0% shares · 5y

Share count is roughly flat over 5 years — little dilution, little buyback.

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 v0.1.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $25.81 and $390.85 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
$390.85
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$366.6M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$215.55
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$366.6M
Earnings Power Value
$25.81
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$140.8M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$44.42
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)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $215.55
The three cases
Bear0.0%$96.8
Base20.0%$215.55
Bull20.0%$215.55

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 2021-06-30 · accession 0001591698-23-000115 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0001591698-24-000151 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-06-30 · accession 0001591698-23-000115 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0001591698-24-000151 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-06-30 · accession 0001591698-23-000115 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0001591698-24-000151 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-06-30 · accession 0001591698-23-000115 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0001591698-24-000151 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001591698-25-000087 (LongTermDebt)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2021-06-30 · accession 0001591698-23-000115 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  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)