Head to Head Contrast: StoneCo (STNE) and The Competition

StoneCo (NASDAQ:STNE) is one of 340 publicly-traded companies in the “Financial Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare StoneCo to related businesses based on the strength of its risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares StoneCo and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
StoneCo	$2.53 billion	$425.73 million	3.19
StoneCo Competitors	$6.47 billion	$1.09 billion	10.00

StoneCo’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than StoneCo. StoneCo is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares StoneCo and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
StoneCo	22.92%	22.19%	4.10%
StoneCo Competitors	-338.57%	-39.92%	-5.61%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for StoneCo and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
StoneCo	0	8	2	0	2.20
StoneCo Competitors	1986	6961	11745	446	2.50

StoneCo presently has a consensus price target of $12.30, suggesting a potential upside of 55.40%. As a group, “Financial Services” companies have a potential downside of 7.66%. Given StoneCo’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe StoneCo is more favorable than its competitors.

Volatility & Risk

StoneCo has a beta of 1.76, suggesting that its share price is 76% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, StoneCo’s competitors have a beta of 2.51, suggesting that their average share price is 151% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

73.2% of StoneCo shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.2% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 22.0% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

StoneCo competitors beat StoneCo on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

StoneCo Company Profile

StoneCo Ltd. is a Brazilian financial technology company that provides payment processing and business management solutions, primarily to merchants in Brazil. Its services are designed to help businesses accept and manage payments across in-person and online channels. The company’s offerings include payment terminals, digital payment tools, financial services and software for managing business operations. Through brands such as Stone, Pagar.me and Linx, StoneCo serves businesses ranging from smaller merchants to larger retailers.