Sifting through countless of stocks in the Professional Services industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software and Inc.

Maximus, Inc. operates as a provider of government services worldwide. The company operates through three segments: U.S. Federal Services, U.S. Services, and Outside the U.S. The U.S. Federal Services segment offers business process services, eligibility and enrollment, outreach, and other services for federal health and human services programs; clinical services; and technology solutions, such as application development and modernization services, enterprise business solutions, advanced analytics and emerging technologies, cybersecurity services, data management, and infrastructure and engineering solutions. The U.S. Services segment offers program eligibility support and enrollment; centralized multilingual customer contact centers, multichannel, and digital self-service options for enrollment; application assistance and independent health plan choice counseling; beneficiary outreach, education, eligibility, enrollment, and redeterminations; subsidized telephone services; and person-centered independent assessment services. This segment also provides employment services, such as eligibility support, case management, job-readiness preparation, job search and employer outreach, job retention and career advancement, and educational and training services; technology solutions; and system implementation project management services. The Outside the U.S. segment offers BPS and technology solutions for international governments, including health and disability assessments, program administration for employment services, wellbeing solutions and other job seeker-related services, digitally-enabled customer services, and technologies for modernization. Maximus, Inc. was founded in 1975 and is headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

Paycom Software, Inc. provides cloud-based human capital management (HCM) solution delivered as software-as-a-service for small to mid-sized companies in the United States. The company offers functionality and data analytics that businesses need to manage the employment life cycle from recruitment to retirement. Its HCM solution provides a suite of applications in the areas of talent acquisition, including applicant tracking, background checks, on-boarding, e-verify, and tax credit services; and time and labor management, such as time and attendance, scheduling, time-off requests, and labor allocation solutions. The company’s HCM solution also offers payroll applications comprising better employee transaction interface, payroll and payroll tax management, payroll card, Everyday, Paycom pay, Client Action Center, expense management, garnishment administration, and GL concierge applications; and talent management applications that include employee self-service, compensation budgeting, performance management, position management, and Paycom learning. Its HCM solution provides manager on-the-go that gives supervisors and managers the ability to perform a variety of tasks, such as approving time-off requests and expense reimbursements; direct data exchange; ask here, a tool for direct line of communication to ask work-related questions; document and checklist; government and compliance; benefits administration; COBRA administration; personnel action and performance discussion forms; Paycom surveys; retirement reporting; report center; and affordable care act applications, as well as Clue, which securely collects, tracks, and manages the vaccination and testing data of the workforce. Paycom Software, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Latest Professional Services and Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software, Inc. Stock News

As of February 10, 2026, Maximus, Inc. had a $4.3 billion market capitalization, compared to the Professional Services median of $1.3 million. Maximus, Inc.’s stock is down 12.3% in 2026, down 19.2% in the previous five trading days and up 13.4% in the past year.

Currently, Maximus, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 12.1. Maximus, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $5.4 billion with a 6.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -4.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $8.515 per share for the current fiscal year. Maximus, Inc. currently has a 1.7% dividend yield.

As of February 10, 2026, Paycom Software, Inc. had a $6.9 billion market cap, putting it in the 72nd percentile of all stocks. Paycom Software, Inc.’s stock is down 25.3% in 2026, down 8.3% in the previous five trading days and down 37.46% in the past year.

Currently, Paycom Software, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 15.5. Paycom Software, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.0 billion with a 22.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 9.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $9.259 per share for the current fiscal year. Paycom Software, Inc. currently has a 1.2% dividend yield.

How We Compare Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Maximus, Inc.	MMS	B
Paycom Software, Inc.	PAYC	D

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Maximus, Inc. has a Value Score of 77, which is Value. Paycom Software, Inc. has a Value Score of 40, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: Maximus, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, Maximus, Inc. is considered to have better value than Paycom Software, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, Maximus, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software and Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Maximus, Inc.	MMS	A
Paycom Software, Inc.	PAYC	B

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Maximus, Inc. has a Growth Score of 91, which is Very Strong. Paycom Software, Inc. has a Growth Score of 69, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: Maximus, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Maximus, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Paycom Software, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Maximus, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Maximus, Inc.	MMS	B
Paycom Software, Inc.	PAYC	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Maximus, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 72, which is Positive. Paycom Software, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 44, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Maximus, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Maximus, Inc. has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Paycom Software, Inc.. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Maximus, Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software and Inc. Grades

In addition to Value, Estimate Revisions and Growth, A+ Investor also provides grades for Momentum and Quality.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Maximus, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 77, Growth Score of 91 and Estimate Revisions Score of 72.

Paycom Software, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 40, Growth Score of 69 and Estimate Revisions Score of 44.

Comparing Maximus, Inc., Paycom Software and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.