The second-quarter results for Paylocity Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTY) were released last week, making it a good time to revisit its performance. It looks like a credible result overall - although revenues of US$326m were in line with what the analysts predicted, Paylocity Holding surprised by delivering a statutory profit of US$0.67 per share, a notable 18% above expectations. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year.

View our latest analysis for Paylocity Holding

Following the latest results, Paylocity Holding's 20 analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$1.39b in 2024. This would be a credible 7.3% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to rise 6.5% to US$3.17. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$1.41b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.23 in 2024. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.

It will come as no surprise then, to learn that the consensus price target is largely unchanged at US$193. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. There are some variant perceptions on Paylocity Holding, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$250 and the most bearish at US$155 per share. Analysts definitely have varying views on the business, but the spread of estimates is not wide enough in our view to suggest that extreme outcomes could await Paylocity Holding shareholders.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that Paylocity Holding's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2024 expected to display 15% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 23% over the past five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.3% annually. Even after the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that Paylocity Holding is also expected to grow faster than the wider industry.