Analyzing WEX (NYSE:WEX) & Paysign (NASDAQ:PAYS)

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

97.5% of WEX shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 25.9% of Paysign shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of WEX shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.4% of Paysign shares are held 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for WEX and Paysign, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WEX	0	13	3	0	2.19
Paysign	0	1	4	0	2.80

WEX currently has a consensus price target of $173.50, suggesting a potential upside of 15.53%. Paysign has a consensus price target of $8.56, suggesting a potential upside of 58.27%. Given Paysign’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Paysign is more favorable than WEX.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WEX	11.79%	41.87%	3.71%
Paysign	9.90%	19.32%	3.64%

Risk and Volatility

WEX has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Paysign has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares WEX and Paysign”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WEX	$2.63 billion	1.96	$309.60 million	$7.91	18.99
Paysign	$68.54 million	4.30	$3.82 million	$0.12	45.08

WEX has higher revenue and earnings than Paysign. WEX is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Paysign, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

WEX beats Paysign on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Paysign

Paysign, Inc. provides prepaid card programs, comprehensive patient affordability offerings, digital banking services, and integrated payment processing services for businesses, consumers, and government institutions. Its product offerings include solutions for corporate rewards, prepaid gift cards, general purpose reloadable debit cards, employee incentives, consumer rebates, donor compensation, clinical trials, healthcare reimbursement payments and pharmaceutical payment assistance, and demand deposit accounts accessible with a debit card. The company markets its prepaid card solutions under the Paysign brand. Its primary market focus is on companies and municipalities that require a streamlined payment solution for rewards, rebates, payment assistance, and other payments to their customers, employees, agents, and others. The company was formerly known as 3PEA International, Inc. and changed its name to Paysign, Inc. in April 2019. Paysign, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada.