Critical Contrast: Usio (NASDAQ:USIO) & Mercurity Fintech (NASDAQ:MFH)

Usio (NASDAQ:USIO) and Mercurity Fintech (NASDAQ:MFH) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Usio has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mercurity Fintech has a beta of 4.3, indicating that its stock price is 330% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Usio and Mercurity Fintech, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Usio	2	1	1	0	1.75
Mercurity Fintech	1	0	0	0	1.00

Usio currently has a consensus target price of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 200.75%. Given Usio’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Usio is more favorable than Mercurity Fintech.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

20.2% of Usio shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 30.8% of Mercurity Fintech shares are held by institutional investors. 17.8% of Usio shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 62.8% of Mercurity Fintech shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Usio and Mercurity Fintech’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Usio	-0.46%	-2.05%	-0.37%
Mercurity Fintech	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Usio and Mercurity Fintech”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Usio	$82.93 million	0.44	$3.31 million	($0.02)	-66.50
Mercurity Fintech	$956,830.00	402.84	-$4.53 million	N/A	N/A

Usio has higher revenue and earnings than Mercurity Fintech.

Summary

Mercurity Fintech beats Usio on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Mercurity Fintech

Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. operates as a fintech company powered by blockchain. The company provides digital asset trading infrastructure solutions based on internet and blockchain technologies for cryptocurrency traders; and asset digitalization platform, which offers blockchain-based digitalization solutions for traditional assets, such as fiat currencies, bonds, and precious metals. It also offers cryptocurrency mining services that provides computing power to the mining pool; and digital consultation services, such as digital payment solutions, asset management, and online and traditional brokerage services. The company was formerly known as JMU Limited and changed its name to Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. in April 2020. Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in New York, New York.