Comparing Paymentus (NYSE:PAY) and Usio (NASDAQ:USIO)

Paymentus (NYSE:PAY) and Usio (NASDAQ:USIO) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Paymentus and Usio’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Paymentus	5.29%	12.68%	10.68%
Usio	-0.46%	-2.05%	-0.37%

Risk & Volatility

Paymentus has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Usio has a beta of 1.37, meaning that its share price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Paymentus and Usio, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Paymentus	0	4	4	0	2.50
Usio	2	1	1	0	1.75

Paymentus presently has a consensus target price of $37.50, suggesting a potential upside of 62.41%. Usio has a consensus target price of $4.00, suggesting a potential upside of 205.34%. Given Usio’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Usio is more favorable than Paymentus.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

78.4% of Paymentus shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.2% of Usio shares are held by institutional investors. 87.8% of Paymentus shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.8% of Usio shares are held by 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.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Paymentus and Usio”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Paymentus	$871.74 million	3.32	$44.17 million	$0.46	50.20
Usio	$82.93 million	0.43	$3.31 million	($0.02)	-65.50

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

Summary

Paymentus beats Usio on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Paymentus

Paymentus Holdings, Inc. provides cloud-based bill payment technology and solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers electronic bill presentment and payment services, enterprise customer communication, and self-service revenue management to billers through a software-as-a-service technology platform. Its platform's payment processing includes credit cards, debit cards, eChecks, and digital wallets. It serves utility, financial service, government, insurance, telecommunication, real estate management, education, consumer finance, healthcare, and small business industries. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About Usio

Usio, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated electronic payment processing services to merchants and businesses in the United States. The company offers various types of automated clearing house (ACH) processing; and credit, prepaid card, and debit card-based processing services. Its ACH transaction processing services include Represented Check and Check Conversion for electronic payment facilitation. In addition, the company offers merchant account services for the processing of card-based transactions through the VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB networks, including online terminal services accessed through a website or retail services accessed through a physical terminal. Further, it provides a proprietary web-based customer service application that allows companies to process one-time and recurring payments through e-checks or credit cards; and an interactive voice response telephone system to companies, which accept payments directly from consumers over the telephone using e-checks or credit cards. Additionally, the company offers prepaid and incentive card issuance services; and operates a prepaid core processing platform, as well as provides additional services, such as electronic bill presentment, document composition, document decomposition, and printing and mailing services for various industry verticals, including utilities and financial institutions. It markets and sells ACH products and services primarily through resellers; and prepaid card program directly to government entities, corporations, and to consumers through the internet. The company was formerly known as Payment Data Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Usio, Inc. in June 2019. Usio, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.