Emerald (NYSE:EEX – Get Rating) and Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR – Get Rating) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, risk and profitability.
Volatility & Risk
Emerald has a beta of 1.25, suggesting that its stock price is 25% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shift4 Payments has a beta of 1.24, suggesting that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Emerald and Shift4 Payments’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Emerald | 42.13% | -173.30% | 12.00% |
| Shift4 Payments | 3.77% | 14.06% | 2.28% |
Valuation & Earnings
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Emerald | $325.90 million | 0.66 | $130.80 million | $0.39 | 8.79 |
| Shift4 Payments | $1.99 billion | 2.45 | $75.10 million | $1.08 | 54.45 |
Emerald has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Shift4 Payments. Emerald is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Shift4 Payments, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
18.1% of Emerald shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.9% of Shift4 Payments shares are held by institutional investors. 3.5% of Emerald shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 36.6% of Shift4 Payments shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Emerald and Shift4 Payments, as provided by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Emerald | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Shift4 Payments | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 2.82 |
Emerald currently has a consensus price target of $12.00, suggesting a potential upside of 249.85%. Shift4 Payments has a consensus price target of $74.92, suggesting a potential upside of 27.40%. Given Emerald’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Emerald is more favorable than Shift4 Payments.
Summary
Shift4 Payments beats Emerald on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Emerald
Emerald Holding, Inc. engages in the operation of business-to-business trade shows. The firm serves the gift, home & general merchandise, sports, design and construction, technology and jewelry sectors. It operates through the following segments: Commerce, Design and Technology and All Other. The Commerce segment includes events and services covering merchandising, licensing, and retail sourcing and marketing to enable professionals to make informed decisions and meet consumer demands. The Design and Technology segment handles events and services that support a wide variety of industries connecting businesses and professionals with products, operational strategies, and integration opportunities to drive new business and streamline processes and creative solutions. The All Other segment consists of Emerald’s remaining operating segments, which provide diverse events and services. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in New York, NY.
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.
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