Paylocity (PCTY) Competitors

Ceridian HCM (NYSE:CDAY) and Paylocity (NASDAQ:PCTY) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, media sentiment, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, community ranking and risk.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, CDAY or PCTY?

Paylocity has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Ceridian HCM. Paylocity is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ceridian HCM, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ceridian HCM	$1.45B	6.82	-$73.40M	$0.03	2,111.00
Paylocity	$1.35B	7.21	$140.82M	$3.44	50.28

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in CDAY or PCTY?

94.8% of Paylocity shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.5% of Ceridian HCM shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 22.5% of Paylocity shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer CDAY or PCTY?

Ceridian HCM currently has a consensus target price of $76.80, suggesting a potential upside of 21.27%. Paylocity has a consensus target price of $196.67, suggesting a potential upside of 13.70%. Given Paylocity's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Ceridian HCM is more favorable than Paylocity.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ceridian HCM	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Paylocity	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53

Is CDAY or PCTY more profitable?

Paylocity has a net margin of 14.42% compared to Paylocity's net margin of 0.28%. Ceridian HCM's return on equity of 22.08% beat Paylocity's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ceridian HCM	0.28%	2.03%	0.51%
Paylocity	14.42%	22.08%	5.03%

Does the media favor CDAY or PCTY?

In the previous week, Paylocity had 2 more articles in the media than Ceridian HCM. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Paylocity and 3 mentions for Ceridian HCM. Paylocity's average media sentiment score of 1.75 beat Ceridian HCM's score of 1.71 indicating that Ceridian HCM is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Ceridian HCM	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Paylocity	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CDAY or PCTY?

Paylocity received 234 more outperform votes than Ceridian HCM when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.72% of users gave Paylocity an outperform vote while only 57.55% of users gave Ceridian HCM an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Ceridian HCM	Outperform Votes 301 57.55%	Underperform Votes 222 42.45%
Paylocity	Outperform Votes 535 67.72%	Underperform Votes 255 32.28%

Which has more risk and volatility, CDAY or PCTY?

Ceridian HCM has a beta of 1.38, indicating that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Paylocity has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Paylocity beats Ceridian HCM on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.