Is it safe?
Can PAYX take a bad year?
Paychex carries $3.43B of net debt at 1.22× EBITDA: a load its earnings can carry.
$3.43B
Net debt · as at Q4 2026 · under two and a half years of EBITDA, comfortable
- Net debt / EBITDA
- 1.22×
Net debt / EBITDA · 1.38× a year ago · the load is coming down
- Altman Z-score
- 2.78
Altman Z-score · grey zone, between 1.8 and 3
- Interest cover
- 9.32×
Interest cover · operating profit covers the interest bill several times over
Details›
- Total debtQ4 2026
- $4.56B
- Cash and short-term investments
- $1.12B
- Net debt
- $3.43B
- EBITDA, trailing twelve months
- $2.80B
- Operating profit, trailing twelve months
- $2.51B
- Debt / equity
- 1.22×
- Total debt / EBITDA
- 1.63×
- Annualised volatilitytwo years of daily moves
- 27%
- Worst drawdown on file
- −45%
- Below its 52-week high
- −8.6%
Balance sheet from SEC filings; drawdown and volatility from end-of-day closes; Altman Z from the filed statements.
Software - Application
Ranks #10 of 90 by Smart Score