Remarkably well managed, and still one-tenth owned by its founder, the company, which targets the SME segment rather than the Fortune 500 segment favored by ADP, still has one of the most lucrative business models on the US stock exchange.

In fact, its shares regularly top the MarketScreener quantitative selections. This time last year, the detailed merits of an investment in Paychex were debated in these columns.

In the meantime, the company has completed an excellent fiscal year 2023, characterized by a very strong recovery in growth - entirely organic - in sales and profit. Margins reached an all-time high and, at 47.3%, return on equity remained unprecedented, despite the company's lack of financial leverage.

Results for the first quarter - traditionally the weakest of the year, as it corresponds to the summer season - of fiscal 2024 show no sign of abating: sales rose by 7%, and earnings per share by 10%. Three-quarters of net income was distributed to shareholders, and there were no share buybacks.

Particularly noteworthy is the very reasonable stock option policy, far removed from the excesses so often seen elsewhere in the technology sector.

So, fundamentals haven't changed one iota. Valuation, on the other hand, has undergone a contraction in multiples in the wake of its recent surge: it has thus returned to its historical average of x16 EBITDA and x25 consolidated profit, after having flirted with multiples of x25 EBITDA and x35 profit.

This was no doubt due to fears of an economic slowdown caused by rising interest rates, which in theory would wreak havoc among SMEs - i.e. Paychex customers - in the first instance.

Nevertheless, a very good investment opportunity could emerge if this compression continues without any real change in the growth trajectory.