In Thursday premarket trading, Paychex Inc. (PAYX, Financial) was down nearly 2% on the back of the company posting its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2018. The company reported an annual net sales growth of 7.1% to $826.5 million, while its profit advanced to 59 cents per share. Moreover, revenue exceeded estimates by $3.34 million and earnings were in line with expectations.
Moreover, operating income reached $332.2 million, an increase of 7% from the same period a year ago.Â
The company's financial position is solid with cash and total corporate investments of $819.5 million. Positive cash flows allowed Paychex to pay dividends to shareholders. Moreover, cash flows from operations were $519.4 million for the six-month period, an increase of 26% from the same period last year. In the first quarter, the company repurchased 1.6 million shares of common stock for $94.1 million.
For fiscal 2018, Paychex expects adjusted EPS to increase between 7% and 8%, while analysts estimate EPS of $2.39, an 8.6% increase.
Gainers
- Net Element Inc. (NETE, Financial)
- Finish Line Inc. (FINL)
- Veritone Inc. (VERI, Financial)
- Accenture PLC (ACN)
- TechnipFMC PLC (FTI, Financial)
- ConocoPhillips (COP, Financial)
Losers
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded higher. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.05%, Germany's DAX rose 0.31%, France's CAC 40 climbed 0.62% and Spain's IBEX 35 increased 0.95%.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 declined 0.11% and India’s BSE Sensex slid 0.06%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.45% and China´s SSE Composite jumped 0.38%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
