Analyzing Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) and ASAP (NASDAQ:WTRH)

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) and ASAP (NASDAQ:WTRH) are both business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.9% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.3% of ASAP shares are owned by institutional investors. 30.6% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of ASAP shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Shift4 Payments and ASAP”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shift4 Payments	$2.56 billion	3.13	$86.20 million	$1.65	54.88
ASAP	$130.00 million	0.15	-$5.23 million	($1.03)	-0.09

Shift4 Payments has higher revenue and earnings than ASAP. ASAP is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Shift4 Payments, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Shift4 Payments has a beta of 1.64, suggesting that its stock price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ASAP has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Shift4 Payments and ASAP’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shift4 Payments	3.64%	24.19%	6.10%
ASAP	-131.13%	-52.13%	-19.80%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Shift4 Payments and ASAP, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shift4 Payments	0	3	17	0	2.85
ASAP	0	0	0	0	N/A

Shift4 Payments presently has a consensus price target of $95.11, indicating a potential upside of 5.03%. Given Shift4 Payments’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Shift4 Payments is more favorable than ASAP.

Summary

Shift4 Payments beats ASAP on 13 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Shift4 Payments

Shift4 Payments, Inc. (NYSE FOUR) provides integrated payment processing and technology solutions in the United States. Its payments platform provides omni-channel card acceptance and processing solutions, including end-to-end payment processing for various payment types; merchant acquiring; proprietary omni-channel gateway; complementary software integrations; integrated and mobile point-of-sale (POS) solutions; security and risk management solutions; and reporting and analytical tools, as well as tokenization, risk management/underwriting, payment device and chargeback management, fraud prevention, and gift card solutions. The company also offers suite of technology solutions, such as Lighthouse, a cloud-based business intelligence tool that includes customer engagement, social media management, online reputation management, scheduling, and product pricing, as well as reporting and analytics; integrated POS for merchants business; and Skytab, a mobile payment solution. In addition, it provides marketplace technology that enable seamless integrations into third-party applications, which includes online delivery services, payroll, timekeeping, and other human resource services. Further, the company offers merchant management, training and education, marketing management, and incentives tracking solutions. Additionally, it provides merchant underwriting, onboarding and activation, training, risk management, and support services; and software integrations and compliance management, and partner support and services. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

About ASAP

ASAP, Inc. operates an online ordering technology platform in the United States. Its platform allows to order food, alcohol, convenience, grocery, flowers, auto parts, and others. The company's platform also facilitates access to third parties that provide payment processing solutions for restaurants and other merchants. As of June 30, 2022, it had approximately 27,000 restaurants in approximately 1,000 cities. The company was formerly known as Waitr Holdings Inc. and changed its name to ASAP, Inc. in August 2022. ASAP, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.