Online payroll and human resource software provider Paycor (NASDAQ:PYCR) reported Q2 FY2023 results beating Wall St's expectations, with revenue up 28.9% year on year to $132.9 million. On top of that, guidance for next quarter's revenue was surprisingly good, being $156 million at the midpoint, 3.68% above what analysts were expecting. Paycor made a GAAP loss of $27.5 million, down on its loss of $25.5 million, in the same quarter last year.
Is now the time to buy Paycor? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Paycor (PYCR) Q2 FY2023 Highlights:
- Revenue: $132.9 million vs analyst estimates of $127.3 million (4.34% beat)
- EPS (non-GAAP): $0.08 vs analyst estimates of $0.06 (37.6% beat)
- Revenue guidance for Q3 2023 is $156 million at the midpoint, above analyst estimates of $150.5 million
- The company lifted revenue guidance for the full year, from $531 million to $542 million at the midpoint, a 2.07% increase
- Free cash flow was negative $6.26 million, compared to negative free cash flow of $33.5 million in previous quarter
- Gross Margin (GAAP): 65.2%, up from 60.1% same quarter last year
“Paycor produced excellent second quarter results highlighted by 29% revenue growth year-over-year, which reflects continued demand and product innovation,” said Raul Villar, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of Paycor.
Found in 1990 in Cincinnati, Ohio Paycor (NASDAQ: PYCR), provides software for small businesses to manage their payroll and HR needs in one place.
HR software benefits from dual trends around costs savings and ease of use. First is the SaaS-ification of businesses, large and small, who much prefer the flexibility of cloud-based, web-browser delivered software paid for on a subscription basis than the hassle and expense of purchasing and managing on-premise enterprise software. Second is the consumerization of business software, whereby multiple standalone processes like payroll processing and compliance are aggregated into a single, easy to use platforms.
Sales Growth
As you can see below, Paycor's revenue growth has been strong over the last two years, growing from quarterly revenue of $85.9 million in Q2 FY2021, to $132.9 million.
This quarter, Paycor's quarterly revenue was once again up a very solid 28.9% year on year. On top of that, revenue increased $14.6 million quarter on quarter, a very strong improvement on the $7.31 million increase in Q1 2023, which shows re-acceleration of growth, and is great to see.
Guidance for the next quarter indicates Paycor is expecting revenue to grow 27.2% year on year to $156 million, improving on the 22.8% year-over-year increase in revenue the company had recorded in the same quarter last year. Ahead of the earnings results the analysts covering the company were estimating sales to grow 19.3% over the next twelve months.
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Profitability
What makes the software as a service business so attractive is that once the software is developed, it typically shouldn't cost much to provide it as an ongoing service to customers. Paycor's gross profit margin, an important metric measuring how much money there is left after paying for servers, licenses, technical support and other necessary running expenses was at 65.2% in Q2.
That means that for every $1 in revenue the company had $0.65 left to spend on developing new products, marketing & sales and the general administrative overhead. While it improved significantly from the previous quarter this would still be considered a low gross margin for a SaaS company and we would like to see the improvements continue.
Key Takeaways from Paycor's Q2 Results
With a market capitalization of $4.49 billion Paycor is among smaller companies, but its more than $72.3 million in cash and positive free cash flow over the last twelve months put it in a very strong position to invest in growth.
We enjoyed the positive outlook Paycor provided for the next quarter’s revenue. And we were also glad to see the improvement in gross margin. Overall, we think this was a strong quarter, that should leave shareholders feeling very positive. The company is up 2% on the results and currently trades at $25.04 per share.
Paycor may have had a good quarter, so should you invest right now? It is important that you take into account its valuation and business qualities, as well as what happened in the latest quarter. We look at that in our actionable report which you can read here, it's free.
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The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.