Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Ryan Glenn: Sure. I think probably the two factors I’d call out would be obviously January starts, which we’ve referenced in the prepared remarks and in the Q&A here. So that probably had some headwinds in it relative to upmarket. So that as a factor in the third quarter but certainly into the fourth. And the other factor would be the macro impact. So as we’ve referenced we did see now really two quarters of weakness sequentially, and we assumed some further moderation in the back half. So that has an impact in Q3. But as you get to the fourth quarter, that would have all the impact we’ve seen year-to-date as well as the additional moderation that we factored in. So I think it’s really those two items that would account for that sequential slowdown in revenue growth you’re referencing.

Steven Enders: Okay. All right. That’s helpful. And then maybe just on the conservatism that you have kind of baked into the guide like any change in how you’re thinking about the level of conservatism that’s now being kind of the same tier?

Steve Beauchamp: Yes. I don’t think there’s a change in any guidance philosophy. I think it’s a matter of how long do you see a trend, and then do you have to account for it. So I think last quarter, we kind of assumed employment stayed flat and that you wouldn’t see any continued sequential decline. We’ve seen that now for two quarters. So we think it’s prudent for us to be able to take that trend into consideration. You also – Ryan just said, he took into account potentially a rate cut, and that’s obviously included as well. And so we’re also in the back half of the year, so you’re only talking two quarters left. So I don’t think there’s any different in approach, but we felt like we should at least take into account all the things that we have seen so far and that seem at least reasonably possible into the guidance.

Steven Enders: Okay, perfect. Thanks for taking the questions.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Alex Zukin with Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Aleksandr Zukin: Hey guys. So maybe again, kind of similar line of questioning. It’s a multiparter. The first being just if I think about the amount kind of taken out of the guide for this year, I think it’s about $20 million on the recurring revenue line. Just dimensionalize like is half of that employment levels and half of that kind of either later starts or less starts. And then as we’re kind of – maybe a few quarters removed from the long-term guide of 20%, given the exit rate of 12% to 13% in Q4. Is this something that’s temporal and there might be kind of a year air gap until we get back to that 20% long-term target? Or are we talking more a quarter or two?

Ryan Glenn: Sure. I can hit the first question, Alex. I think roughly the impact from macro and the sales headwinds, roughly the same impact to the revised guidance. I wouldn’t wait one or the other. They both certainly weighed on the guidance, particularly in the back half of the year. Relative to your second question on longer term, I’ll let Steve handle that.

Steve Beauchamp: Yes, I think the way we think about long-term model is over an extended period of time, and it’s something that we’ve made a couple of updates since we’ve gone public we’ll consider that as we go into the turn of the year and see if there’s any changes that we want to make. We made some changes going into this fiscal year. We’re still focused on growth as a priority. We still think there’s a lot of levers that we can pull to be able to grow the business, huge TAM, products getting great adoption, pipeline is pretty rich and full. So at this point in time, no changes and same priority growth first and continued focus at the same time on margin expansion. And that’s kind of been our formula for success in the past.

Aleksandr Zukin: Got it. And maybe just a quick follow-up. If I think about kind of everything you’ve referenced from on the sales go-to-market side, the execution side, what gives you kind of incremental confidence that there’s also not kind of increased competitive pressure, maybe increased market saturation, that it’s not those things that it really is kind of a temporal fix around both the macro current environment as well as the longer time to ramp for sales people?

Steve Beauchamp: Yes, I think there are several factors there. So I think, number one, it’s the conversations that you have with your sales force, especially the folks that have been here around a long time and the confidence level that they have in the product and service that we’re offering. And then number two, I think it’s the data that we get into. And when we’re looking at the pipeline, we’re looking at this in detail by deal, looking at what those close ratios look like. And so if the pipeline wasn’t necessarily building and we weren’t seeing these elongated sales cycles, I probably would have a different answer to that question, but that’s very evident in the data that we’re looking at. And so that provides us more optimism.

And then I think lastly, it’s the conversations that we have with current customers, and we’re seeing how the product is resonating in the upper end of the space, and we’re certainly having success. And so I think it’s when you put those three things together, we think we have an opportunity to execute better on the back half of the year. And we have a big opportunity from a TAM perspective, and that includes the success we’ve had over the last several years in upmarket.

Aleksandr Zukin: Perfect. Thank you, guys.

Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Jason Celino with KeyBanc Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Jason Celino: Great. Thanks for fitting me in. Really sorry to beat a dead horse here, but the moderation you’re making in on the employment levels in the second half, is there a way to think about the magnitude and the linearity of it?