Reviewing MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) and Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR)

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) and MediaAlpha (NYSE:MAX) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings and valuation.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Shift4 Payments and MediaAlpha’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shift4 Payments	$2.56 billion	2.15	$86.20 million	$1.42	45.06
MediaAlpha	$388.15 million	3.40	-$40.42 million	($0.89)	-22.54

Shift4 Payments has higher revenue and earnings than MediaAlpha. MediaAlpha is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Shift4 Payments, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

Shift4 Payments has a beta of 1.57, suggesting that its share price is 57% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MediaAlpha has a beta of 1.35, suggesting that its share price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Shift4 Payments and MediaAlpha, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shift4 Payments	1	1	19	0	2.86
MediaAlpha	1	0	5	0	2.67

Shift4 Payments presently has a consensus target price of $85.00, suggesting a potential upside of 32.85%. MediaAlpha has a consensus target price of $18.20, suggesting a potential downside of 9.27%. Given Shift4 Payments’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Shift4 Payments is more favorable than MediaAlpha.

Profitability

This table compares Shift4 Payments and MediaAlpha’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shift4 Payments	3.36%	27.35%	5.88%
MediaAlpha	-10.41%	N/A	-27.85%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

98.9% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.4% of MediaAlpha shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.1% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.6% of MediaAlpha shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Shift4 Payments beats MediaAlpha on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shift4 Payments

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE FOUR) provides integrated payment processing and technology solutions in the United States. Its payments platform provides omni-channel card acceptance and processing solutions, including end-to-end payment processing for various payment types; merchant acquiring; proprietary omni-channel gateway; complementary software integrations; integrated and mobile point-of-sale (POS) solutions; security and risk management solutions; and reporting and analytical tools, as well as tokenization, risk management/underwriting, payment device and chargeback management, fraud prevention, and gift card solutions. The company also offers suite of technology solutions, such as Lighthouse, a cloud-based business intelligence tool that includes customer engagement, social media management, online reputation management, scheduling, and product pricing, as well as reporting and analytics; integrated POS for merchants business; and Skytab, a mobile payment solution. In addition, it provides marketplace technology that enable seamless integrations into third-party applications, which includes online delivery services, payroll, timekeeping, and other human resource services. Further, the company offers merchant management, training and education, marketing management, and incentives tracking solutions. Additionally, it provides merchant underwriting, onboarding and activation, training, risk management, and support services; and software integrations and compliance management, and partner support and services. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

About MediaAlpha

MediaAlpha, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates an insurance customer acquisition platform in the United States. It optimizes customer acquisition in various verticals of property and casualty insurance, health insurance, and life insurance. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.