Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) and Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) Head to Head Survey

Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) and Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

Euronet Worldwide has a beta of 1.25, indicating that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Alerus Financial has a beta of 0.71, indicating that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.6% of Euronet Worldwide shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.3% of Alerus Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 11.2% of Euronet Worldwide shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of Alerus Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Euronet Worldwide and Alerus Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Euronet Worldwide	0	2	5	1	2.88
Alerus Financial	0	3	1	0	2.25

Euronet Worldwide presently has a consensus target price of $122.83, indicating a potential upside of 37.55%. Alerus Financial has a consensus target price of $25.63, indicating a potential upside of 13.99%. Given Euronet Worldwide’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Euronet Worldwide is more favorable than Alerus Financial.

Profitability

This table compares Euronet Worldwide and Alerus Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Euronet Worldwide	8.06%	26.62%	5.66%
Alerus Financial	11.06%	10.21%	0.98%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Euronet Worldwide and Alerus Financial”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Euronet Worldwide	$3.99 billion	0.92	$306.00 million	$7.29	12.25
Alerus Financial	$336.51 million	1.70	$17.78 million	$1.69	13.30

Euronet Worldwide has higher revenue and earnings than Alerus Financial. Euronet Worldwide is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Alerus Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Euronet Worldwide beats Alerus Financial on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Euronet Worldwide

Euronet Worldwide, Inc. provides payment and transaction processing and distribution solutions to financial institutions, retailers, service providers, and individual consumers worldwide. It operates through three segments: Electronic Fund Transfer Processing, epay, and Money Transfer. The Electronic Fund Transfer Processing segment provides electronic payment solutions, including automated teller machine (ATM) cash withdrawal and deposit services, ATM network participation, outsourced ATM and point-of-sale (POS) management solutions, credit and debit and prepaid card outsourcing, card issuing, and merchant acquiring services. It also offers ATM and POS currency conversion, ATM surcharge, advertising, customer relationship management, mobile top-up, bill payment, fraud management, foreign remittance and cardless payout, banknote recycling, and tax-refund services; and integrated electronic financial transaction software solutions for electronic payment and transaction delivery systems. The epay segment distributes and processes prepaid mobile airtime and other electronic payment products; and provides payment processing services for various prepaid products, cards, and services, as well as vouchers and physical gift fulfillment, and gift card distribution and processing services. This segment operates a network of approximately 821,000 POS terminals. The Money Transfer segment offers consumer-to-consumer and account-to-account money transfer, customers bill payment, check cashing, foreign currency exchange, mobile top-up, and cash management and foreign currency risk management services, as well as payment alternatives, such as money orders and prepaid debit cards. The company was formerly known as Euronet Services, Inc. and changed its name to Euronet Worldwide, Inc. in August 2001. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Leawood, Kansas.

About Alerus Financial

Alerus Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Alerus Financial, National Association that engages in the provision of various financial services to businesses and consumers. The company operates in four segments: Banking, Mortgage, Retirement and Benefit Services, and Wealth Management. It offers various deposit products, including demand deposits, interest-bearing transaction accounts, money market accounts, time and savings deposits, checking accounts, and certificates of deposit; and treasury management products, including electronic receivables management, remote deposit capture, cash vault services, merchant services, and other cash management services. The company also provides commercial loans, business term loans, lines of credit, and commercial real estate loans, as well as construction and land development loans; consumer lending products, including residential first mortgage loans; installment loans and lines of credit; and second mortgage loans. In addition, it offers retirement plan administration and investment advisory services, employee stock ownership plan, fiduciary services, payroll, health savings accounts, and other benefit services, as well as individual retirement accounts; and financial planning, investment management, personal and corporate trust, estate administration, and custody services. Further, the company provides debit and credit cards, online banking, mobile banking/wallet, payment, private banking, payroll accounts, flex spending accounts, administration, and government health insurance program services. It offers banking services in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Arizona; and retirement and benefit plans through offices located in Michigan, Minnesota, and Colorado. The company was formerly known as First National Bank North Dakota and changed its name to Alerus Financial Corporation in 2000. Alerus Financial Corporation was founded in 1879 and is headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota.