Korn Ferry vs Paychex
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The short version
- Paychex is the larger business, with $6.5B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $2.9B for Korn Ferry, about 2.2 times as much.
- Paychex grew revenue faster (16.9%, against 6.4%).
- Paychex kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (38.6% operating margin, against 12.8%).
- Paychex turned more of its sales into free cash flow (35.7% FCF margin, against 11.0%).
- Paychex earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (26.2%, against 21.9%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Paychex’s earnings: a P/E of 23.4x against 14.8x for Korn Ferry.
| Latest fiscal year | KFY · FY26 | PAYX · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $4.0B | $42.1B |
| Revenue | $2.9B | $6.5B |
| Free cash flow | $324M | $2.3B |
| Net income | $277M | $1.8B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 6.4% | 16.9% |
| 5-year growth | 10.1% | 9.9% |
| Share count change | −0.5% | −0.6% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 74.3% |
| Operating margin | 12.8% | 38.6% |
| Net margin | 9.4% | 27.0% |
| FCF margin | 11.0% | 35.7% |
| Return on capital | 21.9% | 26.2% |
| Return on equity | 14.5% | 44.8% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$731M | $3.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −1.5x | 1.2x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $220M | $2.2B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 14.8x | 23.4x |
| Piotroski F-score | 8 | 6 |
Revenue
FY17
KFY $1.6B
PAYX $3.2B
FY18
KFY $1.8B
PAYX $3.4B
FY19
KFY $2.0B
PAYX $3.8B
FY20
KFY $2.0B
PAYX $4.0B
FY21
KFY $1.8B
PAYX $4.1B
FY22
KFY $2.6B
PAYX $4.6B
FY23
KFY $2.9B
PAYX $5.0B
FY24
KFY $2.8B
PAYX $5.3B
FY25
KFY $2.8B
PAYX $5.6B
FY26
KFY $2.9B
PAYX $6.5B
KFY
PAYX
Operating margin
FY17
KFY 7.4%
PAYX 39.8%
FY18
KFY 11.5%
PAYX 38.2%
FY19
KFY 7.1%
PAYX 36.4%
FY20
KFY 8.9%
PAYX 36.2%
FY21
KFY 8.6%
PAYX 36.0%
FY22
KFY 17.8%
PAYX 39.9%
FY23
KFY 11.1%
PAYX 40.6%
FY24
KFY 7.6%
PAYX 41.2%
FY25
KFY 12.5%
PAYX 39.6%
FY26
KFY 12.8%
PAYX 38.6%
KFY
PAYX
Free cash flow
FY17
KFY $56.1M
PAYX $866M
FY18
KFY $177M
PAYX $1.1B
FY19
KFY $212M
PAYX $1.1B
FY20
KFY $195M
PAYX $1.3B
FY21
KFY $220M
PAYX $1.1B
FY22
KFY $452M
PAYX $1.5B
FY23
KFY $274M
PAYX $1.6B
FY24
KFY $229M
PAYX $1.7B
FY25
KFY $302M
PAYX $1.7B
FY26
KFY $324M
PAYX $2.3B
KFY
PAYX
Return on capital
FY17
KFY 9.9%
PAYX —
FY18
KFY 14.9%
PAYX —
FY19
KFY —
PAYX —
FY20
KFY —
PAYX 41.7%
FY21
KFY 12.6%
PAYX 41.6%
FY22
KFY 40.7%
PAYX 52.1%
FY23
KFY 21.9%
PAYX 57.5%
FY24
KFY 14.2%
PAYX 56.9%
FY25
KFY 21.2%
PAYX 31.9%
FY26
KFY 21.9%
PAYX 26.2%
KFY
PAYX
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.