Analyzing Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTCMKTS:REFG) & Usio (NASDAQ:USIO)

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTCMKTS:REFG) and Usio (NASDAQ:USIO) are both business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions and Usio”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Usio	$82.93 million	0.45	$3.31 million	($0.02)	-68.50

Usio has higher revenue and earnings than Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions.

Volatility and Risk

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions has a beta of -0.86, indicating that its stock price is 186% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Usio has a beta of 1.28, indicating that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions and Usio, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions	0	0	0	0	0.00
Usio	2	1	1	0	1.75

Usio has a consensus target price of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 191.97%. Given Usio’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Usio is more favorable than Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

20.2% of Usio shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.8% of Usio shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions and Usio’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions	N/A	N/A	N/A
Usio	-0.46%	-2.05%	-0.37%

Summary

Usio beats Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions, Inc. develops and markets a payment system for medical cannabis transactions. Its solution assists in the state tracking of sales, collection of tax, and supervision of sales to consumers. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. On August 12, 2024, Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions, Inc. filed a voluntary petition for liquidation under Chapter 7 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.

About Usio

Usio, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated electronic payment processing services to merchants and businesses in the United States. The company offers various types of automated clearing house (ACH) processing; and credit, prepaid card, and debit card-based processing services. Its ACH transaction processing services include Represented Check and Check Conversion for electronic payment facilitation. In addition, the company offers merchant account services for the processing of card-based transactions through the VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB networks, including online terminal services accessed through a website or retail services accessed through a physical terminal. Further, it provides a proprietary web-based customer service application that allows companies to process one-time and recurring payments through e-checks or credit cards; and an interactive voice response telephone system to companies, which accept payments directly from consumers over the telephone using e-checks or credit cards. Additionally, the company offers prepaid and incentive card issuance services; and operates a prepaid core processing platform, as well as provides additional services, such as electronic bill presentment, document composition, document decomposition, and printing and mailing services for various industry verticals, including utilities and financial institutions. It markets and sells ACH products and services primarily through resellers; and prepaid card program directly to government entities, corporations, and to consumers through the internet. The company was formerly known as Payment Data Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Usio, Inc. in June 2019. Usio, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.