Analyzing WEX (NYSE:WEX) & Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ)

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for WEX and Marqeta, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WEX	0	12	4	0	2.25
Marqeta	2	9	1	0	1.92

WEX presently has a consensus price target of $169.27, indicating a potential upside of 17.44%. Marqeta has a consensus price target of $5.19, indicating a potential upside of 25.47%. Given Marqeta’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Marqeta is more favorable than WEX.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.5% of WEX shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 78.6% of Marqeta shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of WEX shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.6% of Marqeta shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

WEX has a beta of 0.87, indicating that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marqeta has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its stock price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares WEX and Marqeta”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WEX	$2.66 billion	1.88	$304.10 million	$8.91	16.18
Marqeta	$624.88 million	2.83	-$13.93 million	($0.03)	-138.00

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WEX	11.50%	42.66%	3.33%
Marqeta	-2.23%	-1.62%	-1.00%

Summary

WEX beats Marqeta on 10 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 Marqeta

Marqeta, Inc. operates a cloud-based open application programming interface platform that delivers card issuing and transaction processing services. It offers its solutions in various verticals, including financial services, on-demand services, expense management, and e-commerce enablement, as well as buy now, pay later. Marqeta, Inc. was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in Oakland, California.