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 Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure 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 Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure and Inc.

Paylocity Holding Corporation provides cloud-based human capital management, finance, and IT software solutions in the United States. The company offers payroll solutions comprising payroll and tax services, global payroll, on-demand payment, garnishments, and elevate payroll; human resources (HR) solutions consisting of human resources, employee self-service, workflows and documents, HR compliance dashboard, and elevate HR and HR edge; time and labor solutions, including time and attendance, scheduling, and time collection; and talent solutions, such as recruiting, onboarding, learning, performance, compensation, and market pay. It also provides benefits solutions comprising benefit enrollment and updates, third-party administrative solutions, and retirement; employee experiences consisting of community, video, employee voice, recognition and rewards, data insights, and reporting; and Paylocity for finance solutions, such as headcount planning, expense management, accounts payable automation, corporate cards, and guided procurement. In addition, the company offers Paylocity for IT which includes access management and identity, and asset management; and implementation and training, client services, and tax and regulatory services. It serves for-profit and non-profit organizations across industries, including business services, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, restaurants, retail, technology, and others. The company markets and sells its products through sales representatives. Paylocity Holding Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Clear Secure, Inc. operates a secure identity platform under the CLEAR brand name primarily in the United States. It provides secure identity platform, a multi-layered infrastructure consisting of front-end, including enrollment, verification, and linking, as well as back-end. The company also offers CLEAR Plus, a consumer aviation subscription service, which enables access to predictable entry lanes in airport security checkpoints, as well as access to broader network; and CLEAR mobile app, which is used to enroll new members and improve the experience for existing members. In addition, it provides RESERVE powered by CLEAR to reservation spot for airport locations; Home to Gate, a feature to help travelers plan and time their trip to the airport; CLEAR1, a B2B offering that extends secure identity platform to partners to create friction-free experiences for their customers; CLEAR ID, a free and mobile digital ID that allow any traveler to verify their identity; CLEAR Concierge which enhances the CLEAR value proposition for high-frequency and premium travelers, as well as travelers requiring additional assistance, such as families and senior citizens; CLEAR Perks, a suite of added benefits that help CLEAR members get an even more seamless experience; TSA PreCheck Enrollment Provided by CLEAR, as well as online renewal services; Sora ID, a one-click know your customer that enables adding know your customer services to platform offerings; and a virtual queuing technology. The company has a strategic collaboration with Samsung Electronics America, Inc. for the development of Samsung ID with CLEAR, a digital ID solution that allows users to add a US passport to Samsung Wallet and verify their identity. The company was founded in 2010 and is headquartered in New York, New York. Clear Secure, Inc. is a subsidiary of Alclear Investments, Llc.

Latest Professional Services and Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure, Inc. Stock News

As of September 2, 2026, Paylocity Holding Corporation had a $8.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Professional Services median of $1.1 million. Paylocity Holding Corporation’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and down 11.51% in the past year.

Currently, Paylocity Holding Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 31.4. Paylocity Holding Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.8 billion with a 15.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 11.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $8.720 per share for the current fiscal year. Paylocity Holding Corporation does not currently pay a dividend.

Currently, Clear Secure, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 30.0. Clear Secure, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.0 billion with a 14.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 26.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.085 per share for the current fiscal year. Clear Secure, Inc. currently has a 1.8% dividend yield.

How We Compare Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure 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 Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Paylocity Holding Corporation	PCTY	D
Clear Secure, Inc.	YOU	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.

Paylocity Holding Corporation has a Value Score of 26, which is Expensive. Clear Secure, Inc. has a Value Score of 29, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure or Inc. has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure and Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Paylocity Holding Corporation	PCTY	B
Clear Secure, Inc.	YOU	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.

Paylocity Holding Corporation has a Growth Score of 69, which is Strong. Clear Secure, Inc. has a Growth Score of 69, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Growth Grade breakdown above, both Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure and Inc. have a grade of B. For investors who focus solely on a company’s upward growth, further research should be conducted into both companies’ other financial metrics before deciding whether to invest.

Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure and Inc.’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Paylocity Holding Corporation	PCTY	B
Clear Secure, Inc.	YOU	C

Momentum grades help to 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. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Paylocity Holding Corporation has a Momentum Score of 65, which is Strong. Clear Secure, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 44, which is Average.

The Momentum Grade Winner: Paylocity Holding Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Paylocity Holding Corporation is considered to have stronger momentum compared to Clear Secure, Inc.. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Paylocity Holding Corporation could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure and Inc. Grades

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

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

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 Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Paylocity Holding Corporation stock has a Value Score of 26, Growth Score of 69 and Momentum Score of 65.

Clear Secure, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 29, Growth Score of 69 and Momentum Score of 44.

Comparing Paylocity Holding Corporation, Clear Secure 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.