Workday Inc (WDAY) stock analysis
Workday Inc (WDAY) clears 4 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 3 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 2 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $209.99 it trades 3.4% above this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of -3.4%). Its earnings quality rates Mixed and it returns +2.5% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Workday do?
Workday sells cloud software for human resources, payroll and finance to large employers, on subscription.
What stands out about Workday?
- The share price implies 8.8% yearly growth. At $209.99, WDAY's free cash flow of $11.89 per share would have to grow 8.8% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for more growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 2 of the 8 value filters. It fails Trailing P/E < 25 (40.16) and PEG Ratio < 1.5 (2.05); the other 4 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- The margin of safety is falling. It went from +9% on Oct 7 to -3% on Oct 23 across 5 weekly readings. See the trend.
- Earnings quality: Mixed · 1 flag. Beneish M-score −2.79 · accruals −12.5% of assets · 290% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 17.0% of revenue · share count +0.5% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Jan 2026). See the Earnings Quality Screener.
- Short interest is elevated. 6.6% of the float is sold short, 5.0 days to cover, above this site's 5% flag. See the figures.
How has Workday's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Workday undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) -3.4%
- P/E vs. its own history 40.2x · at/below its cheapest point Real range: 55.9x–2108.7x over 4 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 3.69/5 49 analysts this month: 10 strong buy, 16 buy, 21 hold, 2 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub).
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) 1.72 · Grey zone
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Mixed · 1 flag Beneish M-score −2.79 · accruals −12.5% of assets · 290% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 17.0% of revenue · share count +0.5% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Jan 2026) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +2.5% net Latest fiscal year (2026): dividends 0.0% + buybacks 5.8% − stock comp 3.2%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 12 years its split-adjusted share count rose 59%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $0.51 per $1 of new profit · See's-like · but only 22% return on capital Operating profit −$373M → $440M, capital needed $1.6B → $2.0B, 2017–2026 (3-year averages); return on capital now 22% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 2.05 · Well above fair P/E 40.2× ÷ 19.6% a year of growth behind it. 230th lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 0 of 4 · misses capital-light, real profit, cash back, price Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit started from a loss); Profit is real: not cleared (1 earnings-quality flag); Cash to owners: not cleared (−0.4% a year net); Fair price (PEG): not cleared (PEG 2.05, over 1.5). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 2 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 2 of 6 measures above the median Compared with the 43 other technology stocks this site tracks: 1 in the top third, 2 in the bottom third.
How does Workday compare with its peers?
2 of 6 measures sit above the median of the 43 other technology stocks tracked here, 1 in the top third and 2 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 26.0× 40.2× ✕28th of 39
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 3.8% 5.7% ✓15th of 44
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 24% 17% –28th of 44
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 16.9% 12.3% –25th of 44
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 19.1% 13.3% ✕30th of 44
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.60 0.46 –19th of 44
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and WDAY doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: WDAY is currently earning a strong return on shareholders' equity, carries a conservative amount of debt relative to equity, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: WDAY and its five-year average return on equity falls short too, so this isn't just a one-off dip, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want, and is trading above what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth right now.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✓
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✓
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✕
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2026
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and WDAY falls short of his bar. In its favor: WDAY isn't leaning on debt to fund that growth, and is generating real cash to back up a fast grower's higher price tag. Where it comes up short: WDAY doesn't clear the tighter PEG bar a fast grower needs to justify its pace, is growing earnings outside the 20-50% band he considered sustainable for a fast grower - either not fast enough to earn the label, or a pace he'd flag as unlikely to hold up, and is priced above what he'd pay even for a company growing this quickly.
- PEG < 1 (stricter for fast growers) ✕
- EPS growth 20%-50% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✓
- P/E < 40 ✕
- Price/FCF < 40 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Workday pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $50.2B
- Trailing P/E < 25 40.16
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 2.05
- Price/Book < 8 7.78
- Price/Sales < 7 4.95
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +204.1%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Workday's margin of safety?
+9% on 2026-10-07 → -3% on 2026-10-23 (5 weekly readings).
Where is Workday in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Workday?
12,620,102 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Workday? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case +39%
- Short interest under 5% of float 6.6%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 4/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +85% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2020 0.51 → 0.38
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Workday shareholders gained per year?
Not enough clean earnings history to compute this for WDAY yet - a loss year in the window breaks the growth math rather than faking a number through it.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from WDAY's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Workday's 10-year financials show?
From WDAY's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Workday
What kind of company is Workday?
Workday sells cloud software for human resources, payroll and finance to large employers, on subscription. This site groups it with Technology stocks.
Is Workday trading above or below its DCF value?
At $209.99, WDAY trades 3.4% above this site's neutral DCF value of $203.00 per share, a margin of safety of −3.4%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Workday pass?
WDAY passes 4 of 8. It passes Market Cap > $25B ($50.2B), Price/Book < 8 (7.78), Price/Sales < 7 (4.95) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+204.1%). It misses Trailing P/E < 25 (40.16) and PEG Ratio < 1.5 (2.05). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Are Workday's reported earnings reliable?
This site's earnings-quality check rates WDAY Mixed · 1 flag. Beneish M-score −2.79 · accruals −12.5% of assets · 290% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 17.0% of revenue · share count +0.5% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Jan 2026). Concerns: stock-based compensation (flagged). The five checks are the Beneish M-score (manipulation risk), accruals, cash conversion, stock-based compensation and share dilution; the Earnings Quality Screener shows how each is graded.
How fast has Workday grown its revenue and profit?
From fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2026, WDAY's revenue grew from $1.6 billion to $9.6 billion, 22.2% a year. Net income went from −$385 million to $693 million, and its net profit margin from -24.5% to 7.3%. In fiscal 2026 it produced $2.8 billion of free cash flow (cash from operations minus capital spending), 29.1% of its revenue. All figures are from WDAY's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR) and are shown year by year in the 10-Year Financials section of the card above.
How heavily is Workday stock sold short?
As of September 30, 2026, 6.6% of WDAY's float was sold short (12,620,102 shares, 5.0 days to cover), down 10.8% from the prior reporting period. FINRA publishes short interest twice a month, so it changes about every two weeks; this site flags anything above 5% of the float.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Workday's 10-K annual report for the year ended Jan 31, 2026, filed Mar 6, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Workday Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Workday Inc (WDAY) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.