Head-To-Head Comparison: Western Union (NYSE:WU) versus Paysign (NASDAQ:PAYS)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Paysign and Western Union, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Paysign	0	1	4	0	2.80
Western Union	4	10	0	0	1.71

Paysign presently has a consensus price target of $8.56, indicating a potential upside of 68.89%. Western Union has a consensus price target of $8.55, indicating a potential downside of 5.95%. Given Paysign’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Paysign is more favorable than Western Union.

Volatility and Risk

Paysign has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Union has a beta of 0.61, suggesting that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Paysign and Western Union’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Paysign	9.90%	19.32%	3.64%
Western Union	18.80%	60.85%	6.97%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Paysign and Western Union”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Paysign	$68.54 million	4.03	$3.82 million	$0.12	42.25
Western Union	$4.10 billion	0.70	$934.20 million	$2.29	3.97

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

25.9% of Paysign shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of Western Union shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.4% of Paysign shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of Western Union shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

About Paysign

Paysign, Inc. provides prepaid card programs, comprehensive patient affordability offerings, digital banking services, and integrated payment processing services for businesses, consumers, and government institutions. Its product offerings include solutions for corporate rewards, prepaid gift cards, general purpose reloadable debit cards, employee incentives, consumer rebates, donor compensation, clinical trials, healthcare reimbursement payments and pharmaceutical payment assistance, and demand deposit accounts accessible with a debit card. The company markets its prepaid card solutions under the Paysign brand. Its primary market focus is on companies and municipalities that require a streamlined payment solution for rewards, rebates, payment assistance, and other payments to their customers, employees, agents, and others. The company was formerly known as 3PEA International, Inc. and changed its name to Paysign, Inc. in April 2019. Paysign, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada.

About Western Union

The Western Union Company provides money movement and payment services worldwide. The company operates through Consumer Money Transfer and Consumer Services segments. The Consumer Money Transfer segment facilitates money transfers for international cross-border and intra-country transfers, primarily through a network of retail agent locations, as well as through websites and mobile devices. The Consumer Services segments offers bill payment services, which facilitate payments for consumers, businesses, and other organizations, as well as money order services, retail foreign exchange services, prepaid cards, lending partnerships, and digital wallets. The company was founded in 1851 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.