Exela Technologies (NASDAQ:XELA) and Repay (NASDAQ:RPAY) Critical Contrast

Exela Technologies (NASDAQ:XELA) and Repay (NASDAQ:RPAY) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Exela Technologies and Repay’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Exela Technologies	-4.86%	N/A	-8.07%
Repay	-29.01%	8.34%	4.61%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

16.3% of Exela Technologies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.7% of Repay shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Exela Technologies shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.0% of Repay shares are owned by company 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.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Exela Technologies and Repay”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Exela Technologies	$1.02 billion	0.01	-$125.16 million	($9.18)	-0.23
Repay	$296.63 million	2.66	-$110.49 million	($0.98)	-8.22

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and price targets for Exela Technologies and Repay, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Exela Technologies	0	0	0	0	N/A
Repay	0	4	5	0	2.56

Repay has a consensus price target of $11.33, indicating a potential upside of 40.61%. Given Repay’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Repay is more favorable than Exela Technologies.

Volatility and Risk

Exela Technologies has a beta of 1.86, suggesting that its stock price is 86% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Repay has a beta of 1.44, suggesting that its stock price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Repay beats Exela Technologies on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Exela Technologies

Exela Technologies, Inc. (Exela), formerly Quinpario Acquisition Corp. 2, is engaged in providing information and transaction processing solutions. The Company’s segments include Information and Transaction Processing Solutions (ITPS), Healthcare Solutions (HS) and Legal & Loss Prevention Services (LLPS). ITPS provides industry solutions for banking and financial services, including lending solutions for mortgages, banking solutions for clearing, anti-money laundering, sanctions, cross-border settlement; property and casualty insurance solutions for enrollments, and communications. The HS segment offerings include integrated accounts payable and accounts receivable, and information management for both the healthcare payer and provider markets. The LLPS segment solutions include processing of legal claims for class action and mass action settlement administrations, involving project management support, notification and collection, analysis, and distribution of settlement funds.

About Repay

Repay Holdings Corporation, payments technology company, provides integrated payment processing solutions to industry-oriented markets in the United States. It operates through two segments: Consumer Payments and Business Payments. The company's payment processing solutions enable consumers and businesses to make payments using electronic payment methods. It also offers a range of solutions relating to electronic payment methods, including credit and debit card processing, automated clearing house (ACH) processing, e-cash, and digital wallet services; virtual credit card processing, enhanced ACH processing, instant funding, clearing and settlement, and communication solutions; and proprietary payment channels that include Web-based, virtual terminal, online client portal, mobile application, text-to-pay, interactive voice response, and point of sale services. It serves customers primarily operating in the personal loans, automotive loans, receivables management, and business-to-business verticals through direct sales representatives and software integration partners. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.