Analyzing PAYPOINT (OTCMKTS:PYPTF) and WEX (NYSE:WEX)

PAYPOINT (OTCMKTS:PYPTF) and WEX (NYSE:WEX) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.5% of WEX shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of WEX shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

PAYPOINT has a beta of 0.31, meaning that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WEX has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for PAYPOINT and WEX, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PAYPOINT	0	0	0	0	0.00
WEX	0	12	3	0	2.20

WEX has a consensus target price of $179.82, suggesting a potential upside of 11.97%. Given WEX’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe WEX is more favorable than PAYPOINT.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares PAYPOINT and WEX”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
PAYPOINT	$391.23 million	1.67	$24.49 million	N/A	N/A
WEX	$2.63 billion	2.09	$309.60 million	$7.91	20.30

WEX has higher revenue and earnings than PAYPOINT.

Profitability

This table compares PAYPOINT and WEX’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PAYPOINT	N/A	N/A	N/A
WEX	11.79%	41.87%	3.71%

Summary

WEX beats PAYPOINT on 12 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About PAYPOINT

PayPoint plc engages in the provision of payments and banking, shopping, and e-commerce services and products in the United Kingdom. The company operates through two segments: PayPoint and Love2shop. The PayPoint segment provides card payment services to retailers, including leased payment devices; EPoS; ATM cash machines; SIM cards sales; receipt advertising; bill payment services and cash top-ups to individual consumers; parcel delivery and collection services; retailer service fees solutions; and digital payment services, as well as cash through to digital services. The segment offers its products under PayPoint One, eMoney, MultiPay, CashOut, and Direct Debits platforms. The Love2shop segment is involved in the provision of shopping vouchers, cards, and e-codes which customers may redeem with participating retailers; and Christmas savings club, to which customers make regular payments throughout the year to help spread the cost of Christmas, before converting to a voucher. It serves consumers, SMEs, and convenience retailers in the commercial, not-for-profit, and public sectors. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, the United Kingdom.

About WEX

WEX Inc. operates a commerce platform in the United States and internationally. The Mobility segment offers fleet vehicle payment solutions, transaction processing, and information management services; and provides account activation and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; account management; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions; and ancillary services and offerings. This segment markets its products directly and indirectly to businesses and government agencies with fleets of commercial vehicles; and indirectly through co-branded and private label relationships. The Corporate Payments segment provides payment solutions, including embedded payments; and accounts payable automation and spend management solutions. This segment also markets its products directly and indirectly to customers in travel, fintech, insurance, consumer bill pay, and media verticals. The Benefits Solutions segment offers software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for consumer directed healthcare benefits and full-service benefit enrollment solutions. In addition, its SaaS platform includes embedded payment solutions and plan administration services for consumer-directed health benefits; COBRA accounts; and benefit enrollment and administration services. Further, it offers custodial and depository services for health savings accounts; and markets its products through third-party administrators, financial institutions, payroll providers, and health plans. The company was formerly known as Wright Express Corporation and changed its name to WEX Inc. in October 2012. WEX Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Portland, Maine.