CBIZ (NYSE:CBZ) versus Fiserv (NYSE:FI) Critical Contrast

CBIZ (NYSE:CBZ) and Fiserv (NYSE:FI) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation and dividends.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

87.4% of CBIZ shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.0% of Fiserv shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.4% of CBIZ shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Fiserv shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

CBIZ has a beta of 0.83, meaning that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Fiserv has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for CBIZ and Fiserv, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CBIZ	0	1	0	0	2.00
Fiserv	0	6	17	0	2.74

CBIZ currently has a consensus price target of $63.00, suggesting a potential downside of 15.12%. Fiserv has a consensus price target of $158.21, suggesting a potential upside of 7.69%. Given Fiserv’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Fiserv is more favorable than CBIZ.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares CBIZ and Fiserv’s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CBIZ	$1.59 billion	2.34	$120.97 million	$2.38	31.18
Fiserv	$19.09 billion	4.53	$3.07 billion	$5.00	29.38

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

Profitability

This table compares CBIZ and Fiserv’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CBIZ	7.60%	15.49%	5.92%
Fiserv	16.07%	15.16%	5.63%

Summary

Fiserv beats CBIZ on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CBIZ

CBIZ, Inc. provides financial, insurance, and advisory services in the United States and Canada. It operates through Financial Services, Benefits and Insurance Services, and National Practices segments. The Financial Services segment offers accounting and tax, financial advisory, valuation, risk and advisory, and government healthcare consulting services. The Benefits and Insurance Services provides employee benefits consulting, payroll/human capital management, property and casualty insurance, and retirement and investment services. The National Practices segment offers information technology managed networking and hardware, and health care consulting services. The company primarily serves small and medium-sized businesses, as well as individuals, governmental entities, and not-for-profit enterprises. CBIZ, Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is headquartered in Independence, Ohio.

About Fiserv

Fiserv, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides payments and financial services technology services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. It operates through Merchant Acceptance, Financial Technology, and Payments and Network segments. The Merchant Acceptance segment provides merchant acquiring and digital commerce services; mobile payment services; security and fraud protection products; Clover, a cloud based POS and integrated commerce operating system for small and mid-sized businesses and independent software vendors; and Carat, an integrated operating system for large businesses. This segment distributes through various channels, including direct sales teams, strategic partnerships with agent sales forces, independent software vendors, financial institutions, and other strategic partners in the form of joint venture alliances, revenue sharing alliances, and referral agreement. The Financial Technology segment offers customer deposit and loan accounts, as well as manages an institution's general ledger and central information files. This segment also provides digital banking, financial and risk management, professional services and consulting, check processing, and other products and services. The Payments and Network segment offers card transactions, such as debit, credit, and prepaid card processing and services; funds access, debit payments, cardless ATM access, and surcharge-free ATM network; security and fraud protection products; card production; print services; and various network services, as well as non-card digital payment software and services, including bill payment, account-to-account transfers, person-to-person payments, electronic billing, and security and fraud protection products. It serves merchants, banks, credit unions, other financial institutions, and corporate clients. Fiserv, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.