COMPARE · Data as of August 21, 2026
INTU vs PCTY
Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. INTU scored 85.0, PCTY scored 81.9 — INTU leads.
Compare another set
INTU
Intuit Inc.
85
$367.00 · $100.4B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
3.1
INTU leads
PCTY
Paylocity Holding Corporation
81.9
$153.34 · $8.5B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
- CheapestINTU22.4x
- Fastest growthINTU+15.1%
- Strongest balance sheetPCTY0.11
- Highest qualityPCTY92 / 100
- Largest discount to fair valueINTU-34%
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)
INTU
stronger →← stronger
PCTY
86
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
92
90
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
87
80
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
68
INTU is stronger on 2 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
INTU
PCTY
$7.8bB+
FCF
$497mC
+15.1%B+
Rev
+12.2%B+
0.33B
D/E
0.11B+
22.4xB+
P/E
31.2xB
0.94B+
PEG
1.21B
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
INTU
PCTY
34% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
3% below
~-1%/yr
Growth the price implies10-yr FCF · lower = less priced in
~7%/yr
+31%
1-yr DCF upside
-7%
+51%
5-yr DCF upside
+3%
+87%
10-yr DCF upside
+20%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
INTU
Why this score
- Raising its dividend
PCTY
Why this score
- Buying back stock
- Durable high returns
The companies
INTUIntuit Inc.
Why now
Software - Application · market cap $100.4b. Down 48% from 52-week high of $705.08 — deep drawdown territory. Revenue growing +15%, comfortably above the S&P median. PEG 0.94 — paying under fair value for the growth rate. 33 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $446.02 (implying +22% upside).
Moat
Net margin 22% sits well above the S&P median (~11%) — suggests structural pricing advantage or cost discipline competitors can't quickly close. ROE 22% sits above Buffett's preferred 15% threshold — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. FCF converts 169% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash, a sign that working capital and capex are well-disciplined.
Risk
Down 48% from the 52-week high — the market is pricing in something the screen can't see; verify the bear case before sizing up. 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.
PCTYPaylocity Holding Corporation
Why now
Software - Application · market cap $8.5b. 16% off the 52-week high of $182.36. Revenue growing +12%, comfortably above the S&P median. 19 sell-side analysts rate this a Strong Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $172.00 (implying +12% upside).
Moat
Net margin 16% 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% sits above Buffett's preferred 15% threshold — 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, a sign that working capital and capex are well-disciplined.
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.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
INTU leads PCTY by 3.4 points (88.1 to 84.7), its sharpest advantage coming in FCF (grade B+). 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 — INTU 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 INTU and PCTY diverge
On the headline score the gap is 3.1 points in favor of INTU. They get there differently, though — each leads on a different pillar, so the better pick depends on which you weight.
- ValueINTU 80.1 · PCTY 68.0INTU +12.1
- QualityINTU 85.6 · PCTY 92.3PCTY +6.7
- GrowthINTU 89.6 · PCTY 87.3level
Pillars run 0–100 against sector peers, so a 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.