CompoSecure (NASDAQ:CMPO) & Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) Financial Contrast

CompoSecure (NASDAQ:CMPO) and Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) are both mid-cap business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

CompoSecure has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sezzle has a beta of 8.64, indicating that its stock price is 764% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

37.6% of CompoSecure shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of Sezzle shares are held by institutional investors. 52.1% of CompoSecure shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 49.5% of Sezzle shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for CompoSecure and Sezzle, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CompoSecure	1	0	5	0	2.67
Sezzle	0	3	3	0	2.50

CompoSecure currently has a consensus target price of $20.00, indicating a potential downside of 2.36%. Sezzle has a consensus target price of $113.75, indicating a potential upside of 77.48%. Given Sezzle’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Sezzle is more favorable than CompoSecure.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CompoSecure and Sezzle”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CompoSecure	$267.82 million	7.83	-$53.72 million	($1.68)	-12.19
Sezzle	$271.13 million	8.04	$78.52 million	$2.92	21.95

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

Profitability

This table compares CompoSecure and Sezzle’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CompoSecure	-24.53%	-65.50%	26.83%
Sezzle	28.13%	102.90%	34.75%

Summary

Sezzle beats CompoSecure on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CompoSecure

CompoSecure, Inc. manufactures and designs metal, composite, and proprietary financial transaction cards in the United States and internationally. Its primary metal form factors include embedded, metal veneer lite, metal veneer, and full metal products. The company also offers Arculus Cold Storage Wallet, a three-factor authentication solution, which supports specific digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, non-fungible tokens and others. In addition, it offers Payments + Arculus Secure Authenticate, white-labeled cold storage wallet, Payments + Arculus Cold Storage, and Payments + Arculus Authentication + Arculus Cold Storage. The company serves financial institutions, plastic card manufacturers, system integrators, and security specialists. CompoSecure, Inc. was founded in 1910 and is based in Somerset, New Jersey.

About Sezzle

Sezzle Inc. operates as a technology-enabled payments company primarily in the United States and Canada. The company provides payment solution in-store and at online retail stores; and through proprietary payments solution that connects consumers with merchants. It also offers Sezzle Platform that provides a payments solution for consumers that extends credit at the point-of-sale allowing consumers to purchase and receive the ordered merchandise at the time of sale while paying in installments over time; Pay-in-Four, which allows consumers to pay a fourth of the purchase price up front and then another fourth of the purchase price every two weeks thereafter over a total of six weeks; Pay-in-Full that allows consumers to pay for the full value of their order up-front through the Sezzle Platform without the extension of credit; and Pay-in-Two and other alternative installment options, which allow consumer to pay half of the value of their order up-front and the second half in two weeks. In addition, the company provides Sezzle Virtual Card that allows consumers to access the Sezzle Platform in the form of close-end installment loans and shop with merchants that are not integrated with Sezzle; Sezzle Anywhere, a paid subscription service that allows consumers to use their Sezzle Virtual Card at any merchant online or in-store; Sezzle Premium, a paid subscription service that allows its consumers to access large, non-integrated premium merchants; and Sezzle Up, an opt-in feature of the Sezzle Platform. Further, it offers Long-Term Lending through collaboration with third-party lenders and Product Innovation. Sezzle Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.