Head to Head Review: Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) vs. Research Solutions (NASDAQ:RSSS)

Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) and Research Solutions (NASDAQ:RSSS) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk and profitability.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sezzle and Research Solutions’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sezzle	$159.36 million	1.76	$7.10 million	$1.25	39.72
Research Solutions	$37.70 million	2.52	$570,000.00	($0.02)	-145.50

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

Profitability

This table compares Sezzle and Research Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sezzle	4.45%	40.56%	4.05%
Research Solutions	-1.05%	-4.96%	-1.63%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Sezzle and Research Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sezzle	0	0	0	0	N/A
Research Solutions	0	0	3	0	3.00

Research Solutions has a consensus price target of $4.78, suggesting a potential upside of 64.38%. Given Research Solutions’ higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Research Solutions is more favorable than Sezzle.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

2.0% of Sezzle shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.6% of Research Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 26.5% of Research Solutions shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Sezzle beats Research Solutions on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sezzle

Sezzle Inc. operates as a technology-enabled payments company primarily in the United States and Canada. The company provides payment solution in-store and at online retail stores; and through proprietary payments solution that connects consumers with merchants. It also offers Sezzle Platform that provides a payments solution for consumers that extends credit at the point-of-sale allowing consumers to purchase and receive the ordered merchandise at the time of sale while paying in installments over time; Pay-in-Four, which allows consumers to pay a fourth of the purchase price up front and then another fourth of the purchase price every two weeks thereafter over a total of six weeks; Pay-in-Full that allows consumers to pay for the full value of their order up-front through the Sezzle Platform without the extension of credit; and Pay-in-Two and other alternative installment options, which allow consumer to pay half of the value of their order up-front and the second half in two weeks. In addition, the company provides Sezzle Virtual Card that allows consumers to access the Sezzle Platform in the form of close-end installment loans and shop with merchants that are not integrated with Sezzle; Sezzle Anywhere, a paid subscription service that allows consumers to use their Sezzle Virtual Card at any merchant online or in-store; Sezzle Premium, a paid subscription service that allows its consumers to access large, non-integrated premium merchants; and Sezzle Up, an opt-in feature of the Sezzle Platform. Further, it offers Long-Term Lending through collaboration with third-party lenders and Product Innovation. Sezzle Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About Research Solutions

Research Solutions, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based software-as-a-service research platform. The company is also involved in the transactional sale of published scientific, technical, and medical (STM) content managed, sourced, and delivered through the Transactions platform. Its solutions enable life science and other research intensive organizations to accelerate their research and development activities with access and management STM articles used throughout the intellectual property development lifecycle. The company was formerly known as Derycz Scientific, Inc. and changed its name to Research Solutions, Inc. in March 2013. Research Solutions, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Henderson, Nevada.