Usio (NASDAQ:USIO) and WEX (NYSE:WEX) Head-To-Head Review

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

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Usio and WEX”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Usio	$82.93 million	0.46	$3.31 million	$0.10	14.40
WEX	$2.63 billion	2.09	$309.60 million	$7.91	20.22

WEX has higher revenue and earnings than Usio. Usio 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 Usio and WEX’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Usio	3.43%	-1.63%	-0.28%
WEX	11.79%	41.87%	3.71%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

20.2% of Usio shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.5% of WEX shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.8% of Usio shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of WEX shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Usio has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WEX has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

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

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Usio	2	0	1	0	1.67
WEX	0	12	4	0	2.25

Usio presently has a consensus target price of $4.00, suggesting a potential upside of 177.78%. WEX has a consensus target price of $173.91, suggesting a potential upside of 8.72%. Given Usio’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Usio is more favorable than WEX.

Summary

WEX beats Usio on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

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.