Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) earnings for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 have PAYX stock ticking lower on Tuesday morning. This is despite reporting revenue of $932.2 million, which is better than Wall Street’s estimate of $895.38 million. The company also reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 63 cents, while analysts were expecting EPS of 55 cents for the quarter.
The company also reported GAAP EPS of 59 cents for the period.
Here is what else is worth mentioning from the most recent Paychex earnings report.
- Adjusted EPS was down 11% from 71 cents during Q1 2020.
- Revenue for the quarter comes in 6% lower compared to $992 million during the same time last year.
- Operating income of $284 million is 19% worse year-over-year than $349.1 million
- Paychex earnings also includes a net income of $211.6 million.
- That is 20% lower than $264.2 million from the fourth quarter of 2019.
Martin Mucci, president and chief executive officer of Paychex, said this about the PAYX stock earnings:
“Financial results for the first quarter showed marked improvement as most of our key business metrics recovered at a faster rate than anticipated. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to impact our results causing unfavorable year-over-year comparisons, however, client retention has remained strong and sales performance is accelerating with year-over-year growth in the number of clients sold. We continue to provide excellent customer service and invest in our business while remaining cost-conscious. Cost-saving initiatives are underway and proceeding as expected.”
The company includes some guidance for the rest of FY2021. Paychex is calling for EPS to decline between 6% to 8%, and revenue to decrease between 2% to 4%. Meanwhile, Wall Street is expecting EPS of $2.76 cents on revenue of $3.89 billion for the period.
PAYX stock was down 1.4% as of Tuesday morning.
On the date of publication, Nick Clarkson did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
Nick Clarkson is a web editor at InvestorPlace.
