Financial Analysis: NCR Atleos (NYSE:NATL) versus Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR)

NCR Atleos (NYSE:NATL) and Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Volatility & Risk

NCR Atleos has a beta of 0.57, suggesting that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shift4 Payments has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares NCR Atleos and Shift4 Payments”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NCR Atleos	$4.35 billion	0.78	$162.00 million	$2.58	17.75
Shift4 Payments	$4.18 billion	0.76	$119.00 million	$0.60	66.65

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for NCR Atleos and Shift4 Payments, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NCR Atleos	0	4	1	0	2.20
Shift4 Payments	2	10	11	0	2.39

NCR Atleos presently has a consensus price target of $50.27, suggesting a potential upside of 9.75%. Shift4 Payments has a consensus price target of $56.36, suggesting a potential upside of 40.94%. Given Shift4 Payments’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Shift4 Payments is more favorable than NCR Atleos.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

88.7% of NCR Atleos shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.9% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of NCR Atleos shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares NCR Atleos and Shift4 Payments’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NCR Atleos	4.44%	83.41%	5.87%
Shift4 Payments	2.20%	28.40%	4.61%

About NCR Atleos

NCR Atleos Corporation operates as a financial technology company in the United States, rest of the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through three segments: Self-Service Banking, Network, and Telecommunications & Technology (T&T). The Self-Service Banking segment offers solutions, including a line of automated teller machine (ATM) and interactive teller machine (ITM) hardware and software, as well as related installation, maintenance, and managed and professional services; and solutions to manage and run the ATM channel end-to-end for financial institutions comprising back office, cash management, software management and ATM deployment, and others. The Network segment provides a network of ATMs and multi-functioning financial services kiosks for financial institutions, fintechs, neobanks, and retailers; Allpoint network for credit unions, banks, digital banks, fintechs, stored-value debit card issuers, and other consumer financial services providers; ReadyCode to convert a digital value to cash or cash to a digital value; ATM branding solutions to financial institutions; ATM management and services to retailers and other businesses; and engages in the buying and selling of Bitcoins. The T&T segment offers managed network and infrastructure services to enterprise clients across various industries through communications service providers and technology manufacturers; and professional, field, and remote services for modern network technologies, including software-defined wide area networking, network functions virtualization, wireless local area networks, optical networking, and edge networks. NCR Atleos Corporation is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

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.