Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. PCTY scored 74.6, ADBE scored 85.4 — ADBE leads.
Compare another set
PCTY
Paylocity Holding Corporation
Software - Application · Quality-Growth
74.6
$153.96 · $8.5B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
10.8
ADBE leads
ADBE
Adobe Inc.
Software - Application · Quality-Growth
85.4
$242.27 · $94.3B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestADBE13.5x
Fastest growthPCTY+11.0%
Strongest balance sheetPCTY0.11
Highest qualityPCTY92 / 100
Largest discount to fair valuePCTY-41%
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
Growth against the P/E multiple. Up and to the right is cheaper and faster — the quality-growth idea in one picture. Points beyond the axis are pinned to the edge and marked off-scale rather than allowed to compress everything else.
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
PCTY
stronger →← stronger
ADBE
92
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
92
74
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
80
61
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
85
ADBE is stronger on 2 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
PCTY
ADBE
$497mC
FCF
$10.6bA-
+11.0%B
Rev
+10.5%B
0.11B+
D/E
0.58C+
31.3xB
P/E
13.5xA-
1.24B
PEG
0.58A-
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
PCTY
ADBE
41% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
35% below
~-4%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~-2%/yr
+52%
1-yr DCF upside
+37%
+68%
5-yr DCF upside
+53%
+96%
10-yr DCF upside
+80%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
PCTY
Why this score
Buying back stock
Durable high returns
ADBE
Why this score
Buying back stock
Durable high returns
The companies
PCTYPaylocity Holding Corporation
Software - Application · $153.96 · beta 0.50
Why now
Software - Application · market cap $8.5b. 5% off the 52-week high of $161.93. Revenue growing +11%, comfortably above the S&P median. 20 sell-side analysts rate this a Strong Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $172.20 (implying +12% upside).
Moat
Net margin 15% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 22% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. FCF converts 184% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash.
Risk
Trailing P/E 31x sits well above the S&P median (~20x) — multiple compression is a real risk if revenue growth decelerates. AI-native re-pricing — GPT-class models are compressing the cost of features that took years to build; the moat thesis depends on owning the workflow, not just the feature set.
ADBEAdobe Inc.
Software - Application · $242.27 · beta 1.42
Why now
Software - Application · market cap $94.3b. Down 33% from 52-week high of $363.70 — deep drawdown territory. Revenue growing +11%, comfortably above the S&P median. PEG 0.58 — paying under fair value for the growth rate. 32 sell-side analysts rate this a Hold with a mean 1-yr target of $275.06 (implying +14% upside).
Moat
Net margin 28% sits well above the S&P median (~11%) — suggests structural pricing advantage or cost discipline competitors can't quickly close. ROE 62% — top-decile capital efficiency. Either pricing leverage, low capital intensity, or aggressive buybacks; the durability story depends on which. FCF converts 145% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash.
Risk
Down 33% from the 52-week high — the market is pricing in something the screen can't see; verify the bear case before sizing up. Beta 1.42 implies above-market volatility — position-size to the drawdowns this name will produce in a market correction, not to its bull-case return. Software — competitive moat is durable until it isn't; watch net revenue retention, gross margin trends, and any new market entrant with a fundamentally lower price point.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
ADBE leads PCTY by 5.1 points (89.8 to 84.7), its sharpest advantage coming in FCF (grade A-). A contrarian could still prefer PCTY, which trades about 4% below our DCF fair value — a margin of safety the score doesn't reward. Note they play different roles — ADBE screens as value, PCTY screens as growth — so the model rewards different traits for each.
Our AI analyst is busy right now, so this verdict is drawn directly from the pillars, grades and DCF above.
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where PCTY and ADBE diverge
On the headline score the gap is 10.8 points in favor of ADBE. The widest single difference is Value, where ADBE leads by 24.3 points.
ValuePCTY 60.5 · ADBE 84.8ADBE +24.3
GrowthPCTY 74.1 · ADBE 79.7ADBE +5.6
QualityPCTY 92.4 · ADBE 92.1level
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is ADBE or PCTY the better stock?
ADBE scores higher: ADBE 85.4, PCTY 74.6 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do ADBE and PCTY differ most?
The widest gap is value, where ADBE leads by 24 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. ADBE also leads growth, while quality is effectively level between them.
How are ADBE and PCTY scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.