Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) versus Paysafe (NYSE:PSFE) Financial Comparison

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) and Paysafe (NYSE:PSFE) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shift4 Payments	0	5	14	2	2.86
Paysafe	1	3	1	0	2.00

Shift4 Payments presently has a consensus price target of $114.40, indicating a potential upside of 26.50%. Paysafe has a consensus price target of $16.95, indicating a potential upside of 20.06%. Given Shift4 Payments’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Shift4 Payments is more favorable than Paysafe.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.9% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.4% of Paysafe shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.2% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Shift4 Payments has a beta of 1.81, meaning that its share price is 81% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Paysafe has a beta of 1.78, meaning that its share price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Shift4 Payments and Paysafe”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shift4 Payments	$3.33 billion	2.40	$229.60 million	$2.70	33.49
Paysafe	$1.70 billion	0.50	$22.16 million	($0.85)	-16.61

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shift4 Payments	6.11%	37.05%	6.88%
Paysafe	-2.93%	9.64%	1.71%

Summary

Shift4 Payments beats Paysafe on 15 of the 15 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 Paysafe

Paysafe Limited provides end-to-end payment solutions in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and internationally. Its payments platform offers a range of payment solutions comprising credit and debit card processing, digital wallet, eCash, and real-time banking solutions for entertainment verticals, such as iGaming, including online betting related to sports, e-sports, fantasy sports, poker, and other casino games, as well as travel, streaming/video gaming, retail/hospitality, and digital assets. The company operates through two segments, Merchant Solutions and Digital Wallets. The Merchant Solutions segment offers PCI-compliant payment acceptance and transaction processing solutions for merchants and integrated service providers, including merchant acquiring, transaction processing, gateway solutions, fraud and risk management tools, data and analytics, point of sale systems, and merchant financing solutions, as well as comprehensive support services under the Paysafe and Petroleum Card Services brands. The Digital Wallets segment offers digital wallet solutions under the Skrill, NETELLER, paysafecard, and Paysafecash brands; and pay-by-bank solutions under the Rapid Transfer brand. It also provides eCash solutions under the paysafecard and Paysafecash brands; paysafecard prepaid Mastercard that can be linked to a digital paysafecard account and used to make purchases; Safetypay, a platform that enables eCommerce transactions; and PagoEfectivo, an alternative payment platform. The company is based in London, the United Kingdom.