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ADP

Automatic Data Processing, Inc.

NMS · Technology

$282.28

-$0.73 (-0.26%)down -0.26%

25 August 2026 · delayed 15+ min

D-

Quality score61.3 / 100

Cut-offs are the grader's own: 97+ for an A+, below 60 is an F.

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. earns a D- on excellent profit margins (>20%) and strong ROE (>20%) but high debt-to-equity ratio (>2.0) and MACD bearish (negative histogram). Consider alternatives with better risk/reward profiles.

Model stance WEAK HOLD Suggested position 4.0% · $400.00 IQInvest estimate
Adjusted for Moderate investors, Medium-term investors 4.0% suggested allocation Change these

These change the suggested position size and the stance, not the category scores. Amount is in dollars.

IQ-ADP-20260825engine v1 · 7-category weighted scorecard

What it is worth, depending who you ask.

Today’s price against the year it has had and the targets analysts publish. Every marker is a reported figure, not a projection of ours.

52-week low

$188.16

Lowest analyst target

$225.00

Today's price

$282.28

Mean analyst target

$287.27

52-week high

$305.31

Highest analyst target

$322.00

ADP trades 80% of the way up its 52-week range, between $188.16 and $305.31. The mean analyst target of $287.27 is 1.8% above today's price.

Today’s price 52-week range Analyst price targets

Scored categories

Financial healthExcellent profit margins (>20%); Strong ROE (>20%); High debt-to-equity ratio (>2.0) 80.023%

Profit margin

20.11%

Net profit per unit of revenue

exceptionalWhat this means

Of every 100 units of revenue, this much survives as profit.

Margins this wide usually mean real pricing power or a moat.

Operating margin

23.46%

Before interest and tax

healthyWhat this means

Profit from operations, before interest and tax, per 100 of revenue.

The operations themselves are comfortably profitable.

Gross margin

48.65%

After the cost of goods only

moderateWhat this means

What is left of revenue after only the direct cost of the product.

A conventional manufacturing or mixed-model range.

Return on equity

72.24%

Profit per unit of shareholder capital

very strongWhat this means

Profit generated per unit of shareholder capital.

Rare when sustained — check whether debt is flattering it, since borrowing shrinks the equity denominator.

Return on assets

6.25%

Profit per unit of assets

strongWhat this means

Profit generated per unit of everything the company owns.

The assets are working hard.

Debt to equity

91.44

Borrowings against equity

moderateWhat this means

Borrowings measured against shareholder capital.

Normal for most established companies.

Current ratio

1.05

Short-term assets over short-term debts

adequateWhat this means

Short-term assets against short-term obligations.

Enough to cover near-term bills.

Quick ratio

0.15

As above, excluding inventory

tightWhat this means

Short-term assets excluding inventory, against short-term debts.

Very little liquid cover if receipts slow down.

Revenue growth

6.80%

Year on year

growingWhat this means

Change in revenue against the same period last year.

A healthy expansion rate.

Earnings growth

9.80%

Year on year

modestWhat this means

Change in earnings against the same period last year.

Slow profit growth.

Revenue

$21.95B

Trailing twelve months

Free cash flow

$5.24B

Cash left after capital spending

Operating cash flow

$5.44B

Cash from the business itself

Payout ratio

60.69%

Dividends as a share of earnings

highWhat this means

The share of earnings paid out as dividends.

Most of the profit goes out of the door, leaving less to reinvest.

Growth & momentumLow Sharpe ratio (0.39) 60.022%

Return, 1 month

6.86%

Return, 3 months

30.68%

Return, 6 months

33.85%

Return, year to date

13.40%

Return, 1 year

-4.51%

Return, 3 years

20.62%

Sharpe ratio

0.39

Return earned per unit of risk

modestWhat this means

Return earned per unit of risk taken.

Below 1 is the common case; return did not strongly outpace the volatility.

Win rate

51.83%

Share of days that closed up

about evenWhat this means

The share of trading days that closed higher.

Close to a coin flip, which is the norm — returns come from the size of moves, not their count.

Average daily return

0.04%

Best day

7.98%

Worst day

-9.20%

ValuationHigh PEG ratio (2.60); High P/B ratio (18.62) 15.018%

P/E ratio

25.78

Price against trailing earnings

highWhat this means

You pay 25.78 for every 1 unit of annual earnings.

Above about 25 the market is paying up for expected growth.

Forward P/E

21.07

Price against forecast earnings

moderateWhat this means

Price against next year's *forecast* earnings.

A conventional range.

PEG ratio

2.60

P/E adjusted for growth

expensive for the growthWhat this means

P/E divided by the growth rate — it asks whether the price is justified by the growth.

Above 2 you pay more per unit of growth than the convention treats as reasonable.

Price to book

18.62

Price against balance-sheet equity

well above bookWhat this means

Price against the accounting value of the company's net assets.

Normal for asset-light businesses, where the value sits in brands and software the balance sheet never records.

Price to sales

5.11

Price against revenue

highWhat this means

Price against revenue — usable when a company has no profit yet.

The price assumes today's revenue will convert into much more profit later.

EV / EBITDA

17.74

Whole-company value against cash earnings

highWhat this means

Whole-company value, debt included, against cash earnings.

Expensive even before interest, tax and depreciation are considered.

Enterprise value

$113.71B

Market value plus debt, minus cash — the price of the whole business

Shares outstanding

397,262,737

Shares the profit is split across

Dividend yield

2.40%

Annual dividend against price

meaningfulWhat this means

Annual dividend as a percentage of the share price.

A substantial part of the total return arrives as income.

TechnicalPrice well above 200-day SMA (strong uptrend); Strong trend (ADX > 25); MACD bearish (negative histogram) 100.015%

RSI (14)

66.0

Above 70 overbought, below 30 oversold

neutralWhat this means

A 0–100 momentum gauge over the last 14 sessions.

The middle band, where most trading days sit.

MACD

7.87

Momentum against its own trend

MACD histogram

-0.03

Positive is bullish

ADX

38.8

Trend strength; above 25 is a real trend

trendingWhat this means

Trend strength, regardless of direction.

Above 25 is conventionally read as a genuine trend in force.

20-day average

$273.01

50-day average

$251.75

200-day average

$233.50

Price vs 50-day

12.13%

Price vs 200-day

20.89%

Bollinger upper

$283.47

Bollinger lower

$262.55

Average true range

6.87

Typical daily trading range

Stochastic %K

83.3

RiskModerate beta (market-like risk) 50.012%

Volatility, annualised

22.78%

How far it swings in a year

normalWhat this means

How far the price typically swings over a year.

A typical range for an individual share.

Beta

0.82

Moves against the wider market

market-likeWhat this means

How much the price moves relative to the wider market.

Moves roughly in step with the index.

Maximum drawdown

-40.78%

Worst peak-to-trough fall

significantWhat this means

The worst peak-to-trough fall in the period measured.

A serious decline, though not unusual over a multi-year window.

Risk category

Moderate

The engine's own banding

Analyst view6 measured figures 60.010%

Consensus

Hold

What covering analysts rate it

Analysts covering

15

Mean price target

$287.27

Highest target

$322.00

Lowest target

$225.00

Implied upside

1.77%

Target against today's price

limitedWhat this means

How far the mean analyst target sits above today's price.

Little headroom to the consensus target.

Price against the S&P 500

180 trading days to 2026-08-25

ADP is 10.3% up over the window, against 11.6% up for the S&P 500 — behind by 1.2 points.
ADP +10.3%S&P 500 +11.6%
Show the numbers
Sampled across the window. Both columns are rebased to 100 on 2025-12-05, so they can be compared directly.
DateCloseADP rebasedS&P 500 rebased
2025-12-05$255.88100.0100.0
2025-12-29$255.5499.9100.5
2026-01-21$252.9698.9100.1
2026-02-11$214.1683.7101.0
2026-03-05$219.2185.799.4
2026-03-26$202.9779.394.3
2026-04-17$198.9677.8103.7
2026-05-08$211.4082.6107.7
2026-06-01$231.9890.7110.6
2026-06-23$220.5086.2107.2
2026-07-15$247.4796.7110.2
2026-08-05$270.09105.6112.4

How the score was built

Each category is scored 0–100, then multiplied by its weight. The seven contributions sum to the quality score.
CategoryScoreWeightContribution
Financial health80.023%18.4
Growth & momentum60.022%13.2
Valuation15.018%2.7
Technical100.015%15.0
Risk50.012%6.0
Analyst view60.010%6.0
ESG50.00%0.0
Quality score100%61.3

ESG is scored but carries no weight in this grade. Add ?esg=1 to the address to include it — the engine then redistributes weight across the other six, so the whole scorecard changes, not just one row.

Argue with the model

Every other grader hands you a number. This one hands you the model.

Move a slider, press Recalculate, and the grade is rebuilt from the same category scores. Nothing is hidden: the scores are the engine's, only the weighting is yours.

18%
23%
22%
12%
15%
10%
0%

These are IQInvest's own weights, totalling 100%.

Your grade

D-

61.3 / 100

Identical to the IQInvest grade.

All 66 metricsOne flat sortable table, for when you want everything at once.
Metric Category Value Source
Worst dayGrowth & momentum-9.20%Yahoo Finance
Win rateGrowth & momentum51.83%Yahoo Finance
VolumeMarket data838,373Yahoo Finance
Volatility, annualisedRisk22.78%Yahoo Finance
Stochastic %KTechnical83.3Yahoo Finance
Sharpe ratioGrowth & momentum0.39Yahoo Finance
Shares outstandingValuation397,262,737Yahoo Finance
RSI (14)Technical66.0Yahoo Finance
Risk categoryRiskModerateYahoo Finance
Revenue growthFinancial health6.80%Yahoo Finance
RevenueFinancial health$21.95BYahoo Finance
Return, year to dateGrowth & momentum13.40%Yahoo Finance
Return, 6 monthsGrowth & momentum33.85%Yahoo Finance
Return, 3 yearsGrowth & momentum20.62%Yahoo Finance
Return, 3 monthsGrowth & momentum30.68%Yahoo Finance
Return, 1 yearGrowth & momentum-4.51%Yahoo Finance
Return, 1 monthGrowth & momentum6.86%Yahoo Finance
Return on equityFinancial health72.24%Yahoo Finance
Return on assetsFinancial health6.25%Yahoo Finance
Quick ratioFinancial health0.15Yahoo Finance
Profit marginFinancial health20.11%Yahoo Finance
Price vs 50-dayTechnical12.13%Yahoo Finance
Price vs 200-dayTechnical20.89%Yahoo Finance
Price to salesValuation5.11Yahoo Finance
Price to bookValuation18.62Yahoo Finance
Previous closeMarket data$283.01Yahoo Finance
PEG ratioValuation2.60Yahoo Finance
Payout ratioFinancial health60.69%Yahoo Finance
P/E ratioValuation25.78Yahoo Finance
Operating marginFinancial health23.46%Yahoo Finance
Operating cash flowFinancial health$5.44BYahoo Finance
OpenMarket data$280.07Yahoo Finance
Mean price targetAnalyst view$287.27Yahoo Finance
Maximum drawdownRisk-40.78%Yahoo Finance
MACD histogramTechnical-0.03Yahoo Finance
MACDTechnical7.87Yahoo Finance
Lowest targetAnalyst view$225.00Yahoo Finance
Implied upsideAnalyst view1.77%Yahoo Finance
Highest targetAnalyst view$322.00Yahoo Finance
Gross marginFinancial health48.65%Yahoo Finance
Free cash flowFinancial health$5.24BYahoo Finance
Forward P/EValuation21.07Yahoo Finance
EV / EBITDAValuation17.74Yahoo Finance
Enterprise valueValuation$113.71BYahoo Finance
EmployeesMarket data67,000Yahoo Finance
Earnings growthFinancial health9.80%Yahoo Finance
Dividend yieldValuation2.40%Yahoo Finance
Debt to equityFinancial health91.44Yahoo Finance
Day lowMarket data$279.31Yahoo Finance
Day highMarket data$283.02Yahoo Finance
Current ratioFinancial health1.05Yahoo Finance
ConsensusAnalyst viewHoldYahoo Finance
Bollinger upperTechnical$283.47Yahoo Finance
Bollinger lowerTechnical$262.55Yahoo Finance
BetaRisk0.82Yahoo Finance
Best dayGrowth & momentum7.98%Yahoo Finance
Average volumeMarket data2,614,388Yahoo Finance
Average true rangeTechnical6.87Yahoo Finance
Average daily returnGrowth & momentum0.04%Yahoo Finance
Analysts coveringAnalyst view15Yahoo Finance
ADXTechnical38.8Yahoo Finance
52-week lowMarket data$188.16Yahoo Finance
52-week highMarket data$305.31Yahoo Finance
50-day averageTechnical$251.75Yahoo Finance
200-day averageTechnical$233.50Yahoo Finance
20-day averageTechnical$273.01Yahoo Finance
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