Head to Head Contrast: Paysign (NASDAQ:PAYS) & Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL)

Paysign (NASDAQ:PAYS) and Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Risk & Volatility

Paysign has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its stock price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sezzle has a beta of 8.69, meaning that its stock price is 769% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Paysign and Sezzle”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Paysign	$74.88 million	3.39	$3.82 million	$0.13	35.46
Sezzle	$418.63 million	5.59	$78.52 million	$3.23	21.21

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

25.9% of Paysign shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of Sezzle shares are held by institutional investors. 22.4% of Paysign shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 49.5% of Sezzle shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Paysign	10.10%	19.18%	3.84%
Sezzle	27.66%	90.06%	34.22%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Paysign and Sezzle, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Paysign	0	1	4	0	2.80
Sezzle	0	3	2	0	2.40

Paysign presently has a consensus price target of $8.56, indicating a potential upside of 85.74%. Sezzle has a consensus price target of $126.25, indicating a potential upside of 84.31%. Given Paysign’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Paysign is more favorable than Sezzle.

Summary

Sezzle beats Paysign on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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 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.