WDAY vs PAYC Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Workday and Paycom by enterprise vs SMB HR and payroll market focus, AI-driven workforce analytics, international expansion, customer churn dynamics, and which HR software platform offers better long-term subscription growth.
Use this Workday vs Paycom comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
PAYC holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. PAYC leads on both 1-year return (-23.56%) and forward P/E quality (13.36x vs 13.55x for WDAY), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for WDAY (-1.54%) than for PAYC (-7.60%).
| Metric | WDAY | PAYC |
|---|---|---|
| AI score | 40.4 | 42.2 |
| AI rank | #1035 | #861 |
| Latest close | $171.28 | $175.30 |
| 1M return | +26.50% | +25.92% |
| 6M return | -1.21% | +41.00% |
| 1Y return | -23.92% | -23.56% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | WDAY | PAYC |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $7.61K (-23.9%) started 2025-08-04 | $7.85K (-21.5%) started 2025-08-05 |
| 5Y ago | $7.38K (-26.2%) started 2021-08-04 | $3.87K (-61.3%) started 2021-08-06 |
| 10Y ago | $20.8K (+108.0%) started 2016-08-04 | $35.58K (+255.8%) started 2016-08-08 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | WDAY | PAYC |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $42.3B | $7.64B |
| Trailing P/E | 51.90 | 18.98 |
| Forward P/E | 13.55 | 13.36 |
| Price/Sales | 4.29 | 7.78 |
| EV/Revenue | 4.08 | 3.94 |
| Analyst target | $168.64 | $151.50 |
| Target upside | -1.54% | -7.60% |
| Metric | WDAY | PAYC |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth | 13.50% | 7.80% |
| Earnings growth | 248.00% | 22.60% |
| EPS growth | +248.00% | +22.60% |
| FCF margin | +31.65% | +14.08% |
| Operating margin | N/A | 36.76% |
| Profit margin | 8.60% | 22.44% |
| ROIC proxy | 10.86% | 37.15% |
| Return on equity | 10.86% | 37.15% |
| Dividend yield | 0.00% | 0.91% |
| Beta | 1.05 | 0.80 |
| Debt/equity | 56.94 | 94.07 |
| Current ratio | 1.01 | 1.08 |
| Quick ratio | 0.91 | 0.08 |
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | WDAY | PAYC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growth | -23.92% | -21.49% |
| CAGR | -23.93% | -21.52% | |
| Sharpe ratio | -0.40 | -0.49 | |
| Max drawdown | 54.58% | 51.43% | |
| Max daily drop | 9.42% | 10.72% | |
| Max wkly drop | 15.05% | 13.33% | |
| 5Y | Growth | -26.25% | -61.86% |
| CAGR | -5.91% | -17.54% | |
| Sharpe ratio | -0.06 | -0.30 | |
| Max drawdown | 63.38% | 79.16% | |
| Max daily drop | 15.33% | 38.49% | |
| Max wkly drop | 20.18% | 39.26% | |
| 10Y | Growth | +108.02% | +250.60% |
| CAGR | +7.60% | +13.38% | |
| Sharpe ratio | 0.27 | 0.41 | |
| Max drawdown | 63.38% | 79.16% | |
| Max daily drop | 15.33% | 38.49% | |
| Max wkly drop | 20.58% | 39.26% |
| Category | WDAY | PAYC |
|---|---|---|
| Company | WDAY | PAYC |
| Sector | N/A | Technology |
| Industry | N/A | Software - Application |
| Core business | N/A | N/A |
| Investor focus | N/A | N/A |
Want deeper AI forecasts?
This comparison page is public and free forever. Subscribers can unlock saved watchlists, full AI rankings, detailed forecasts, and interactive analysis tools.