Paycom Software (PAYC) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Paycom Software published the results on November 4, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Paycom Software reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and non-GAAP, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Paycom reports a single operating segment. The revenue split shown is the release's own: recurring and other revenue, and interest earned on funds held for clients.
• Q3 2025 GAAP results included a $35.6 million gain on the modification of Paycom's arena naming rights agreement, which Paycom excludes from non-GAAP net income.

Source: Paycom Q3 2026 results, November 4, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Paycom Software splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Paycom Software's Recurring and other revenue was $519 million in Q3 2026, up 11% from $467 million in Q3 2025, 95% of total revenue.
• Paycom Software's Interest on funds held for clients revenue was $24.5 million in Q3 2026, down 9% from $26.8 million in Q3 2025, 5% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q3 2026 release, Paycom Software said:

“Total revenue in the range of $2.213 billion to $2.218 billion, representing year-over-year growth of approximately 8%.”

“Recurring and other revenue growth of approximately 9% year over year.”

“Interest on funds held for clients of approximately $107.0 million.”

“Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $1.069 billion to $1.079 billion, representing a margin of 48.5% at the midpoint.”

Source: Paycom Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Nov 4, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the PAYC forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

GAAP total revenues and diluted EPS, each as first reported in that quarter's release. Paycom's revenue is seasonal: it expects first and fourth quarter revenues to be higher than the others because payroll tax and ACA forms are processed in the first quarter and bonus payroll runs cluster in the fourth.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Paycom Software's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Nov 4, 2026

Paycom Software sells cloud-based payroll and human capital management software. Of its $543.8 million of Q3 2026 revenue, recurring and other revenues were $519.3 million, up 11.3% and 95.5% of the total. The remaining $24.5 million was interest earned on funds Paycom holds for clients, down from $26.8 million a year earlier. (Paycom Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Within recurring and other, the 10-Q shows recurring revenue of $513.6 million and implementation and other revenue of $5.8 million. Paycom attributed the rise in recurring and other revenue to new clients, sales of more applications and services to existing clients, higher usage, and pricing, partly offset by client attrition, particularly among smaller clients. (Paycom Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 5, 2026)

Interest on client funds fell because interest rates were lower, which more than offset higher balances. The average daily balance of funds held for clients was $2.9 billion over the first nine months of 2026, against $2.7 billion a year earlier. (Paycom Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 5, 2026)

Paycom says it has about 39,200 clients, or about 20,300 grouped by parent company, and stored data for over 7.4 million people employed by its clients in 2025. Its annual revenue retention rate was 91% in 2025 and 90% in 2024. Most revenue has historically come from payroll applications, and Paycom does not track revenue separately across its other applications because it often sells them bundled at one price. (Paycom Form 10-K, 2025, Feb 19, 2026)

Paycom's GAAP diluted EPS rose to $2.99 in Q3 2026 from $1.96, and non-GAAP EPS was $3.37. The gap is mostly non-cash stock-based compensation, $20.3 million or $0.46 a share, which Paycom excludes from non-GAAP net income. The year-ago GAAP figure included a $35.6 million gain, $0.63 a share, from modifying its arena naming rights agreement, so year-ago non-GAAP EPS of $1.94 was below GAAP. (Paycom Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Share buybacks shrank the count sharply. Diluted weighted average shares were 44.5 million in Q3 2026, against 56.4 million a year earlier. Over the first nine months of 2026 Paycom repurchased 10,960,280 shares at an average cost of $128.56, spending $1,390.9 million, and borrowed $900.0 million under its credit facility. Long-term debt was $750.0 million at September 30, 2026, against none at the end of 2025, and interest expense rose to $11.7 million in the quarter from $1.1 million. (Paycom Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 5, 2026; Paycom Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Operating costs fell as headcount came down: research and development expense dropped to $38.5 million from $74.1 million and sales and marketing to $108.0 million from $125.7 million. The nine-month effective tax rate was 28.9%, against 26.2% a year earlier, which Paycom put down to smaller excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation and reduced research and development credits. (Paycom Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026; Paycom Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 5, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Paycom Software gives a full-year outlook in each release and raised it again with Q3 2026 results. It now expects 2026 total revenue of $2.213 billion to $2.218 billion, growth of about 8%, recurring and other revenue growth of about 9%, interest on funds held for clients of about $107.0 million, and adjusted EBITDA of $1.069 billion to $1.079 billion, a 48.5% margin at the midpoint. (Paycom Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Paycom does not reconcile the adjusted EBITDA outlook to net income and gives no GAAP EPS outlook. Through the first nine months it reported total revenues of $1,646.8 million. (Paycom Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Paycom Software, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Paycom Software's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning PAYC is on is PAYC a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the PAYC forecast, and what the company does is on the Paycom Software (PAYC) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Paycom Software published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.