Paylocity Holding Corporation Common Stock 2026 Q4 Earnings Call

Welcome to Paylocity's earnings results call for the fourth quarter in fiscal 2026, which ended on June 30th, 2026. I'm Ryan Glenn, Chief Financial Officer, and joining me on the call today are Steve Beauchamp, Executive Chairman, and Toby Williams, President and CEO of Paylocity. Today, we will be discussing the results announced in our press release issued after the market closed. A webcast replay of this call will be available for the next 45 days on our website under the investor relations tab. Before beginning, we must caution you that today's remarks, including statements made during the question and answer session, contain forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to numerous important factors, risks, and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from the results implied by these or other forward-looking statements.

These statements are based solely on the present information and are subject to risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For additional information, please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the risk factors contained therein and other disclosures. We do not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statements. During the course of today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. We believe that non-GAAP measures are more representative of how we internally measure the business, and there is a reconciliation schedule detailing these results currently available on our press release, which is located on our website at paylocity.com under the investor relations tab, and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Please note that we are unable to reconcile any forward-looking non-GAAP financial measure to their directly comparable GAAP financial measure because the information which is needed to complete a reconciliation is unavailable at this time without unreasonable effort. With that, let me turn the call over to Steve.

Thanks, Ryan, and thanks to all of you for joining us on our fourth quarter and fiscal 2026 earnings call. Our differentiated value proposition of providing the most modern platform in the industry continues to resonate in the marketplace and help drive recurring revenue growth of 12.4% and total revenue growth of 11% in Q4. For fiscal 2026, recurring revenue growth 12.2% and total revenue grew 11% as we ended the year with approximately $1.8 billion of revenue. Our sustained multi-year investment in R&D and commitment to driving innovation continues to fuel durable recurring revenue growth and expanded average revenue per client as the combination of HCM finance and IT in one single platform, all underpinned by its expanded AI capabilities and core employee record data represents the most comprehensive offering in the market.

A critical component of this strategy is the launch of Paylocity Ignite AI, which is designed to help accelerate productivity for HR, finance, and IT teams across companies of all sizes and industries. Our approach to AI remains focused on driving value for our clients rather than adding complexity through standalone features. Ignite AI is woven directly into core workflows to help clients complete tasks faster, surface insights more quickly, and move from answers to action. For example, within recruiting, our candidate fit agent uses job description analysis, recruiter-defined criteria, and candidate application data to help identify strong potential matches while giving recruiters the ability to review, audit, and adjust the criteria.

Similarly, clients can leverage our talent rediscovery agent to scan their existing talent pool to identify candidates whose skills, experiences, education, and certifications align most closely with current job requirements and re-engage qualified talent with personalized invitations to apply for open roles. Additionally, our answers and insight agent makes HR and payroll teams more efficient. Rather than relying on spreadsheets or manual analysis to uncover data-driven insights, administrators can ask natural language questions and receive faster client-specific answers in their flow of work. As part of this continued evolution, we are also introducing our Ignite AI Hub, a centralized dashboard that gives clients greater visibility and control over how AI is used across their organization.

The Ignite AI Hub helps close the visibility gap by measuring real productivity gains, including questions answered, tasks completed, and issues resolved across our payroll time and recruiting agents. It also allows leaders to see which agents are active, configure them based on their organization's needs, and identify opportunities for additional automation. The early feedback from our clients reinforces the value proposition of Ignite AI. It is embedded in the workflows our clients already use, powered by the data they already trust, and designed to support people rather than replace them. As an auto dealer client with more than 600 employees told us, "Paylocity's AI feels like another team member." While a nonprofit client with over 500 employees describes it as an extra set of hands that still preserves the human element of approval and decision-making.

That combination of productivity, trust, and control is critical in HR and payroll, where accuracy, transparency, and compliance are paramount. This positive sentiment is similarly reflected in the growing utilization of our AI capabilities, with the number of AI interactions nearly doubling quarter-over-quarter. Product expansion has been a key part of Paylocity's growth algorithm for over a decade, and we believe the launch of Paylocity Ignite AI, combined with the continued expansion of our broader HCM finance and IT portfolio, will help to drive further growth in our average revenue per client, which reached roughly $37,200 in fiscal 2026, compared to $35,300 in fiscal 2025, an increase of more than 5%. We also continue to see significant growth in our client base in fiscal 2026 to 44,400 clients, representing approximately 7% growth from fiscal 2025.

Our commitment to product development also continues to be recognized in the market, with Paylocity recently recognized by HR Tech Outlook Magazine as the top payroll software for 2026. I would now like to pass the call to Toby to provide further color on the quarter.

Thanks, Steve. In Q4 and fiscal 2026, our differentiated position in the market was reflected in solid sales and go-to-market execution, and we have continued investing in our go-to-market functions to carry this momentum into fiscal 2027. We also saw another strong year of channel referral performance, primarily from benefit brokers, who once again represented more than 25% of new business in fiscal 2026. The sustained success of our broker channel continues to be driven by our modern platform, third-party integration and API capabilities, because we do not compete against our broker partners by selling insurance products. We remain committed to investing in and supporting the broker channel, with the goal of continuing to deliver real value and true partnership and support to our referring brokers and their clients.

We have also continued to drive product innovation to meet client needs and bring to market meaningful new solutions that both create differentiation and drive ARPU. In addition to our recent launch of our Elevate Solutions, in June, we also announced the launch of Paylocity Retirement, a new offering that brings plan administration and employee savings tools directly to the Paylocity platform. Retirement benefits are a critical component of an employee's long-term financial well-being, many employers still manage these programs through disconnected systems, manual file transfers, and separate employee portals. This fragmentation creates additional administrative work for HR and payroll teams, increases the risk of errors, and can make it more difficult for employees to engage with their retirement savings.

As Steve highlighted, we are also excited about the continued evolution of our AI capabilities and the incremental value we expect to deliver to our more than 44,000 clients through the recent launch of Ignite AI. To further expand the AI capabilities across our platform, we also recently announced the acquisition of Aidora, which will enhance our leave of absence management capabilities through a fully automated AI-native system that streamlines the full leave of absence life cycle, from eligibility and planning to payroll coordination and compliance. This is one of the most complex areas of regulatory compliance in HR, which is typically also manual in nature for both HR teams and employees.

With Aidora as part of Paylocity, the full leave of absence process will be automated, leveraging Aidora's AI-native product, delivering a seamless employee experience with clear timelines, personalized guidance, and transparent pay expectations, all through natural language interaction. HR teams will be able to shift their focus from managing manual payroll and complicated compliance processes to supporting their people. We are excited by the opportunity to integrate Aidora's advanced capabilities into our existing suite, delivering incremental value to our clients that we can directly monetize in the form of a premium offering for incremental AI-driven capabilities. Following our acquisition of Grayscale last year, we are also integrating Grayscale's AI-powered recruiting automation capabilities into our platform in the form of a premium offering, helping companies hiring at scale move faster through candidate matching, automated engagement, and continuous candidate check-ins.