COMPARE · Data as of August 24, 2026
PCTY vs SHOP
Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. PCTY scored 81.8, SHOP scored 57.3 — PCTY leads.
Compare another set
PCTY
Paylocity Holding Corporation
81.8
$152.45 · $8.4B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
24.5
PCTY leads
SHOP
Shopify Inc.
57.3
$149.80 · $194.4B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
- CheapestPCTY31.0x
- Fastest growthSHOP+32.5%
- Strongest balance sheetSHOP0.01
- Highest qualityPCTY92 / 100
- Largest discount to fair valuePCTY-4%
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
SHOP
92
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
70
87
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
96
68
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
28
PCTY is stronger on 2 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
PCTY
SHOP
$497mC
FCF
$2.4bB
+12.2%B+
Rev
+32.5%A
0.11B+
D/E
0.01A
31.0xB
P/E
101.2xD
1.24B
PEG
2.61C
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
SHOP
4% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
252% above
~7%/yr
Growth the price implies10-yr FCF · lower = less priced in
~49%/yr
-7%
1-yr DCF upside
-78%
+4%
5-yr DCF upside
-72%
+20%
10-yr DCF upside
-58%
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
SHOP
No notable signals flagged.
The companies
PCTYPaylocity Holding Corporation
Why now
Software - Application · market cap $8.4b. 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 +13% 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.
SHOPShopify Inc.
Why now
Software - Application · market cap $194.4b. 18% off the 52-week high of $182.19. Revenue growing +33% — in hypergrowth territory. 47 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $171.15 (implying +14% 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 15% sits above Buffett's preferred 15% threshold — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. FCF converts 122% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash, a sign that working capital and capex are well-disciplined.
Risk
Trailing P/E 101.2x prices in sustained high growth — any quarter that disappoints triggers sharp re-rating. Beta 2.59 implies above-market volatility — position-size to the drawdowns this name will produce in a market correction, not to its bull-case return. P/S 14.6x embeds aggressive forward growth — disappointing top-line guidance would compress the multiple hard.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
Generating verdict… typically 5–10 seconds
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 SHOP diverge
On the headline score the gap is 24.5 points in favor of PCTY. They get there differently, though — each leads on a different pillar, so the better pick depends on which you weight.
- ValuePCTY 67.8 · SHOP 27.9PCTY +39.9
- QualityPCTY 92.3 · SHOP 70.0PCTY +22.3
- GrowthPCTY 87.3 · SHOP 96.3SHOP +9.0
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.