Analyzing Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) & Evertec (NYSE:EVTC)

Evertec (NYSE:EVTC) and Priority Technology (NASDAQ:PRTH) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Risk & Volatility

Evertec has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Priority Technology has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.8% of Evertec shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 11.5% of Priority Technology shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Evertec shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 59.4% of Priority Technology shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Evertec and Priority Technology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Evertec	9.80%	32.07%	9.12%
Priority Technology	5.61%	-104.91%	3.87%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Evertec and Priority Technology”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Evertec	$931.82 million	1.75	$141.59 million	$1.54	17.74
Priority Technology	$953.01 million	0.67	$55.68 million	$0.69	11.28

Evertec has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Priority Technology. Priority Technology is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Evertec, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Evertec and Priority Technology, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Evertec	0	4	2	0	2.33
Priority Technology	0	5	2	0	2.29

Evertec currently has a consensus target price of $35.00, suggesting a potential upside of 28.08%. Priority Technology has a consensus target price of $8.67, suggesting a potential upside of 11.43%. Given Evertec’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Evertec is more favorable than Priority Technology.

Summary

Evertec beats Priority Technology on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Evertec

EVERTEC, Inc. engages in transaction processing business and financial technology in Latin America and the Caribbean. The company operates through four segments: Payment Services – Puerto Rico & Caribbean; Latin America Payments and Solutions; Merchant Acquiring; and Business Solutions. It provides merchant acquiring services, which enable point of sales and e-commerce merchants to accept and process electronic methods of payment, such as debit, credit, prepaid, and electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards. In addition, the company offers payment processing services that enable financial institutions and other issuers to manage, support, and facilitate the processing for credit, debit, prepaid, automated teller machines, and EBT card programs; credit and debit card processing, authorization and settlement, and fraud monitoring and control services to debit or credit issuers services. Further, it provides business process management solutions comprising core bank processing, network hosting and management, IT professional, business process outsourcing, item and cash processing, and fulfillment solutions to merchant, fintech, financial institutions, and corporate and government customers. Additionally, the company owns and operates the ATH network, a personal identification number debit networks. It manages a system of electronic payment networks that process approximately six billion transactions. The company sells and distributes its services primarily through direct sales force. It serves financial institutions, merchants, corporations, and government agencies. EVERTEC, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

About Priority Technology

Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. operates as a payment technology company in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB) Payments, Business-To-Business (B2B) Payments, and Enterprise Payments. It offers SMB payments processing solutions for B2C transactions through independent sales organizations, financial institutions, independent software vendors, and other referral partners through its MX product suite, which includes MX Connect and MX Merchant products, such as MX Insights, MX Storefront, MX Retail, MX Invoice, MX B2B and ACH.com, and others, which provides flexible and customizable set of business applications that helps to manage critical business work functions and revenue performance to resellers and merchant clients using core payment processing. The company also offers CPX, a platform that offers accounts payable automation solutions, including virtual card, purchase card, ACH +, dynamic discounting, or check. In addition, it provides curated managed services; payment-adjacent technologies to facilitate the acceptance of electronic payments from customers; and Plastiq payables management software, which helps businesses in improving cash flow with instant access to working capital. Further, the company offers embedded finance and BaaS solutions to enterprise customers to modernize legacy platforms and accelerate software partners' strategies to monetize payments; and managed services solutions that provide audience-specific programs for institutional partners and other third parties; and consulting and development solutions. It serves SMB, and enterprises, as well as distribution partners, including retail and wholesale independent sales organizations, financial institutions, and independent software vendors. The company was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia.