Head-To-Head Review: Corpay (NYSE:CPAY) & Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR)

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) and Corpay (NYSE:CPAY) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Shift4 Payments and Corpay”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shift4 Payments	$3.33 billion	1.73	$229.60 million	$2.13	30.51
Corpay	$3.97 billion	5.48	$1.00 billion	$14.73	21.15

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

Profitability

This table compares Shift4 Payments and Corpay’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shift4 Payments	5.02%	40.19%	6.61%
Corpay	24.37%	37.83%	7.26%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.9% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.8% of Corpay shares are owned by institutional investors. 25.2% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Corpay shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings for Shift4 Payments and Corpay, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shift4 Payments	0	6	15	1	2.77
Corpay	0	5	9	0	2.64

Shift4 Payments presently has a consensus target price of $96.70, suggesting a potential upside of 48.79%. Corpay has a consensus target price of $375.43, suggesting a potential upside of 20.50%. Given Shift4 Payments’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Shift4 Payments is more favorable than Corpay.

Risk & Volatility

Shift4 Payments has a beta of 1.68, suggesting that its share price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Corpay has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its share price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Shift4 Payments beats Corpay on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Corpay

Corpay, Inc. operates as a payments company that helps businesses and consumers manage vehicle-related expenses, lodging expenses, and corporate payments in the United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company offers vehicle payment solutions, which include fuel, tolls, parking, fleet maintenance, and long-haul transportation services, as well as prepaid food and transportation vouchers and cards. It also provides corporate payment solutions consisting of accounts payable automation; virtual cards, cross-border solutions; and purchasing and travel and entertainment card products, as well as lodging payments solutions for employees who travel overnight for work purposes; traveling crews and stranded passengers from airlines and cruise lines; and insurance policyholders displaced from their homes due to damage or catastrophe. In addition, the company offers gifts and payroll cards. It serves business, merchant, consumer, and payment network customers. The company was formerly known as FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc. and changed its name to Corpay, Inc. in March 2024. Corpay, Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.