Share count
129Mpeak FY2025
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PAY, Paymentus Holdings Inc.
Commercial Services & Supplies diversified
We are a leading provider of cloud-based bill payment technology and solutions.
We deliver our next-generation product suite through a modern technology stack to a broad and diverse base of business and financial institution clients.
Our platform was used by approximately 53 million consumers and businesses globally in December 2025 to pay their bills, make money movements and engage with our clients.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Revenue · FY2025
$1.2B
+37.3% YoY · 32% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue $1.3B 5-yr avg $715M
Revenue $358M +30.2% vs yr-ago qtr
Operating margin 7.4% yr-ago 5.7%
Net income $21M yr-ago $14M
Net margin 5.8% yr-ago 5.0%
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- What moves the needle
- Gross margin has run about 30% and operating margin about 5.1% through the cycle, a solid spread between what it charges and what the product costs to make. The operating margin has swung widely — from −0.6% to 7.8% — on a steadier 30% gross margin, so what moves it sits below the gross line, in operating spend and one-off charges more than in the cost of the product itself. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
- Is it a good business?
- Return on capital has run in the teens (median 13%, above 15% in 3 of 7 years). Owner earnings agree: roughly 7% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. Returns like these are solid but short of clear franchise economics; whether they hold is what the 10-K settles, not the multiple.
Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2019–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2019’19 | 2020’20 | 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMMar 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||
| $236M | $302M | $396M | $497M | $614M | $872M | $1.2B | $1.3B | RevenueRevenue |
| 32% | 31% | 31% | 30% | 30% | 27% | 25% | 25% | Gross marginGross mgn |
| 4% | 6% | 8% | 8% | 6% | 4% | 4% | 4% | SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev |
| 8% | 8% | 9% | 8% | 7% | 6% | 5% | 5% | R&D / revenueR&D/rev |
| $18M | $18M | $10M | ($3M) | $18M | $45M | $76M | $86M | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| 7.8% | 6.1% | 2.6% | −0.6% | 2.9% | 5.1% | 6.3% | 6.8% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| $14M | $14M | $9M | ($513K) | $22M | $44M | $67M | $74M | Net incomeNet inc. |
| 26% | 25% | 10% | — | 11% | 18% | 22% | 23% | Effective tax rateTax rate |
| Cash flow & returns | ||||||||
| $18M | $36M | $19M | $20M | $69M | $64M | $162M | $142M | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| $6M | $8M | $13M | $24M | $31M | $36M | $41M | $40M | DepreciationDeprec. |
| ($4M) | $12M | ($6M) | ($10M) | $7M | ($28M) | $36M | $7M | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| $1M | $458K | $979K | $1M | $600K | $457K | $361K | $381K | CapexCapex |
| 0.4% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| $16M | $35M | $19M | $19M | $68M | $63M | $162M | $142M | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| 7.0% | 11.7% | 4.7% | 3.7% | 11.1% | 7.2% | 13.5% | 11.1% | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| $16M | $35M | $19M | $19M | $68M | $63M | $162M | $142M | Free cash flowFCF |
| 7.0% | 11.7% | 4.7% | 3.7% | 11.1% | 7.2% | 13.5% | 11.1% | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| $1M | $0 | $57M | $3M | $0 | $0 | — | $0 | AcquisitionsAcquis. |
| 33% | 36% | 4% | -1% | 6% | 13% | 25% | 27% | ROICROIC |
| 20% | 16% | 2% | -0% | 5% | 9% | 12% | 13% | Return on equityROE |
| 20% | 16% | 2% | −0% | 5% | 9% | 12% | 13% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | ||||||||
| $27M | $47M | $168M | $147M | $179M | $206M | $321M | $339M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| — | $17M | $25M | $29M | $35M | $50M | $64M | $73M | Accounts payablePayables |
| — | $80M | $256M | $229M | $270M | $346M | $441M | $473M | Current assetsCur. assets |
| — | $31M | $74M | $51M | $63M | $82M | $99M | $107M | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| — | 2.6× | 3.4× | 4.4× | 4.3× | 4.2× | 4.5× | 4.4× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| $13M | $13M | $129M | $132M | $132M | $132M | $132M | $132M | GoodwillGoodwill |
| — | $125M | $473M | $462M | $505M | $576M | $668M | $699M | Total assetsAssets |
| ($27M) | ($47M) | ($168M) | ($147M) | ($179M) | ($206M) | ($321M) | ($339M) | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| $69M | $84M | $386M | $397M | $430M | $486M | $560M | $583M | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1.7% | Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev |
| Per share | ||||||||
| 106M | 106M | 119M | 122M | 125M | 128M | 129M | 129M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $2.22 | $2.84 | $3.33 | $4.07 | $4.91 | $6.83 | $9.27 | $9.90 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| $0.13 | $0.13 | $0.08 | $-0.00 | $0.18 | $0.35 | $0.52 | $0.57 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| $0.15 | $0.33 | $0.16 | $0.15 | $0.55 | $0.49 | $1.25 | $1.10 | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| $0.15 | $0.33 | $0.16 | $0.15 | $0.55 | $0.49 | $1.25 | $1.10 | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| $0.01 | $0.00 | $0.01 | $0.01 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| $0.65 | $0.79 | $3.25 | $3.25 | $3.43 | $3.80 | $4.34 | $4.51 | Book value / shareBVPS |
Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
| 6-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +26.9%/yr | +26.7%/yr |
| Owner earnings / share | +41.7%/yr | +30.5%/yr |
| EPS | +26.1%/yr | +32.1%/yr |
| Capital spending / share | −18.8%/yr | −8.3%/yr |
| Book value / share | +37.4%/yr | +40.4%/yr |
The record, charted
FY2019–2025Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.
ROIC
25%low FY2022
Gross margin
25%low FY2025
Owner earnings vs. net income
Owner earningsNet incomeThe accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.
$162Mowner earningsvs.$67Mnet incomelow FY2019
Where the cash went
ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedBeyond op. cashEach year's outlays against its operating cash: the mix, and how it drifts. The hatched cap is spending beyond that year's operating cash — financed from the balance sheet or borrowing, not operations.
FY2019FY2025
Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.
In fiscal 2025 the business turned $67M of profit into $162M of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | $67M | $44M | $22M | ($513K) | $9M |
| Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back | +$41M | +$36M | +$31M | +$24M | +$13M |
| Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost | +$19M | +$11M | +$9M | +$7M | +$3M |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | +$36M | −$28M | +$7M | −$10M | −$6M |
| Cash from operations | $162M | $64M | $69M | $20M | $19M |
| Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow | −$361K | −$457K | −$600K | −$1M | −$979K |
| Owner earnings | $162M | $63M | $68M | $19M | $19M |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | 14% | 7% | 11% | 4% | 5% |
Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position . The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less $19M), owner earnings is nearer $143M.
Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →
Will it survive?
- No meaningful interest burdenLittle or no interest expense reported
What this means
Little or no interest expense reported, the business isn't leaning on lenders to operate.
- Net cash, debt-freeCash $321M − debt $0
What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $321M, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Is it a good business?
- Not enough dataIndustry peers: median -6%
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Solid through the cycle7-yr median margin, range 4%–14%; latest $162M = operating cash $162M − maintenance capex $361KIndustry peers: median 6%
What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 14% of revenue this year, a 7% median across 7 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $19M of SBC) leaves $143M.
- Cash-backedCash from ops $162M ÷ net income $67M
What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.
How is the cash used?
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Investing or harvesting? 0.01×HarvestingCapex $361K ÷ depreciation $41M
What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.
Graham’s defensive tests · 2 of 5 met
Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.
- Adequate size NearRevenue ≥ $2B · $1.2B
What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
- Strong liquidity PassCurrent ratio ≥ 2× · 4.46×
What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
- Earnings stability NearA profit every year (7-yr record) · 1 loss year
What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
- Dividend record MissUninterrupted dividends · none paid
What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
- Earnings growth PassEarnings +33% over the record · +263%
What this means
At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.
- Moderate price —P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $0.35/share (latest year $0.53), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $4.46/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.
Durability & moat, 2019–2025
Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.
- Profitable years 6 of 7
What this means
Lost money in 1 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
- Operating margin 6% → 5% (3-yr avg ends)
In the filing’s words The filing attributes gains to higher prices, but the margin in the record has not followed — the claim outruns the result here.
What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 6% early, 5% lately, median 5%.
- Owner earnings growth +28%/yr
What this means
Owner earnings grew about 28% a year over the record.
- Worst year 2022 · −0.6% op. margin
What this means
Operations went underwater in 2022, understand why before trusting the good years.
- Share count +3.3%/yr
What this means
The share count is rising, dilution works against you on a per-share basis.
- How management talks about it Promotional
What this means
The record is compounding, but the filing leans on a promoter’s vocabulary rather than the per-share, return-on-capital terms an owner uses. The results back the talk here; the register is still worth noting.
Does AI threaten the moat?
Elevated contestabilityThe product is software or information, the very thing capable AI now produces more cheaply, so the moat is more contestable than the record alone implies.
In its own filing A competitive risk, new this year
Its FY2025 10-K names artificial intelligence as a competitive threat, in language that was not in the prior year's filing.
“As governments continue to regulate, limit or restrict the use of AI, or impose additional compliance requirements that could increase costs or reduce the usability or effectiveness of our products and services, these deficiencies and regulatory challenges could subject us to competitive harm, legal liability and brand…”
The product is the kind capable AI most directly contests: when a substitute can be built cheaply, the incumbent's pricing power is the first thing at risk. The record cannot say whether the moat outlasts that; past durability is a starting point, not a promise.
Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.
All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.
Current Position
as of the latest quarter, Mar 31, 2026Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.
Current assets$473M
- Cash & short-term investments$339M
- Other current assets$134M
Current liabilities$107M
- Accounts payable$73M
- Other current liabilities$34M
Current ratio4.41×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio4.41×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio3.16×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$365Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+30.2%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters4.6× → 4.4×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$441Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value$357MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$7M$7M of it operating leases
Deferred revenue$8Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float
From the company's latest filing.
How the cash was used, 2019–2025
Over the record, the business generated $387M of operating cash; how management split it reads as a cash builder, a large share of cash simply built up on the balance sheet.
- Reinvested$5M · 1%
- Retained (debt / cash)$382M · 99%
- Source of fundingOperating cash
Operating cash covered reinvestment and returns; over the span cash and short-term investments rose $311M.
- Net change in share count21.6%
The diluted count rose from 106M to 129M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.
- Dividend record—
No dividend line was reported in the filing data over the span; the record here neither confirms nor rules out a payout.
- Return on what it retained44%
Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($170M over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) grew $74M, so each retained $1 added about 0.44 of yearly owner earnings. Buffett's test, run on owner earnings instead of market value.
Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.
Acquisitions & goodwill
from the balance sheet & the 7-year cash-flow recordGoodwill grows only when a company acquires and falls only when it concedes it overpaid. The size of that bet, the cash put into buying rather than building, and how much has already been written off.
Goodwill & intangibles$144M22% of all assets; the premium carried on the balance sheet for businesses acquired
Against book equity24%goodwill is this share of book equity; the rest is the company’s own retained and paid-in capital
Cash spent acquiring$62Mover 7 years buying other businesses, against $5M of capital spent building
None written down over the record; the goodwill is still carried at full cost. That is the deals holding their value on the books so far; whether they keep doing so is the test an owner watches, since the write-down, when it comes, is the admission the price was too high.
Goodwill, acquired intangibles and equity from the latest balance sheet; acquisition spend and write-downs summed across the 7-year record, from the company's own filings.
Management, ownership & pay
read the proxy →From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.
| Fiscal year | Chief executive | Pay, as filed | “Actually paid” | Owner earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Sharma | $1.1M | $1.7M | $68M |
| 2024 | Sharma | $1.2M | $1.4M | $63M |
| 2025 | Sharma | $35.6M | $37.0M | $162M |
Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.
- Insider ownership6.8%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
- Stock-based compensation$19M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 2% of revenue, equal to 25% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.
Inverting the record
Invert: instead of why Paymentus Holdings Inc. is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2019–2025.
1 of the 3 tests turned up something to look into; the other 2 came back clean.
- Look hereDid the share count rise anyway?21.6%
Diluted shares grew 21.6% over 2019–2025. Owners were diluted on net; each share owns less of the business than it did. Read the buyback line beside this one, not on its own.
And these came back clean
- Is it less profitable than it was?
- Did reported profit become cash?
Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.
Peers, Commercial Services & Supplies
The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.
| Company | Revenue | Gross margin | Op. margin | ROIC | Owner earn. margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RELYRemitly Global Inc. | $1.6B | — | -11.4% | -27% | 5% |
| TICTIC Solutions Inc. | $1.5B | 29% | -1.1% | -0% | 4% |
| WNSWNS Holdings | $1.3B | 35% | 12.8% | 15% | 11% |
| PAYPaymentus Holdings Inc. | $1.2B | 30% | 5.1% | 13% | 7% |
| MAXMediaAlpha Inc. | $1.1B | 16% | 2.7% | -12% | 6% |
| ANDGAndersen Group Inc. | $839M | — | 17.7% | — | 20% |
| PAYOPayoneer | $813M | — | 1.2% | 27% | 13% |
| ACVAACV Auctions Inc. | $760M | — | -19.5% | -19% | 3% |
| Group median | — | 30% | 1.9% | -0% | 6% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFType today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Paymentus Holdings Inc. has delivered.
Paymentus Holdings Inc.’s latest year runs above its own through-cycle margin — the reported figure may flatter a peak. So the tool opens on the through-cycle base, Graham’s averaging cutting both ways; clear the toggle below to read the latest year exactly as reported.
$
Through the cycle, Paymentus Holdings Inc. earns about $87M on its 7.2% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 13.5% margin runs above that; the reported figure may flatter a peak you'd be paying on. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year. It comes pre-checked here for that reason, the same rule that already normalizes a trough; clear it to price the year as filed.
Base
—
The assumptions
9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.
Enter a price above to run it.
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Implied by the price—
Owner-earnings growth · ’21→’25+57%/yr
Owner-earnings growth · ’19→’25+28%/yr
Owner-earnings growth · ’19→’25+28%/yr
Owner-earnings yield—
What a growth belief costs, in multiples
The growth each return requires, at your price
P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—
P/B—
Graham’s price gate—
Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.
Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%
Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.
Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.
Owner-earnings yield—
High-grade bond yield—
Margin over the bond—
Owner earnings $142M on 126M shares outstanding (a weighted basic average, the only count this filer tags); net cash $339M. The base opens on the through-cycle figure (the latest year sits above the record’s own median, and Graham’s averaging cuts both ways); clear Normalize to use the year as filed. Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.
Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Paymentus Holdings Inc. (PAY), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/PAY, data as of 2026-07-09.
Manual order: ← PATK its page in the Manual PAYC →
Industry order: ← NUTX the Commercial Services & Supplies chapter PAYO →