Head to Head Contrast: Usio (NASDAQ:USIO) versus Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL)

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Usio and Sezzle, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Usio	2	0	1	0	1.67
Sezzle	0	3	3	0	2.50

Usio presently has a consensus price target of $4.00, suggesting a potential upside of 181.69%. Sezzle has a consensus price target of $113.00, suggesting a potential upside of 70.77%. Given Usio’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Usio is more favorable than Sezzle.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Usio and Sezzle”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Usio	$83.71 million	0.46	$3.31 million	($0.02)	-71.00
Sezzle	$271.13 million	8.33	$78.52 million	$3.23	20.49

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

20.2% of Usio shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.0% of Sezzle shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.8% of Usio shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 49.5% of Sezzle shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Usio	-0.46%	-2.05%	-0.37%
Sezzle	27.66%	90.06%	34.22%

Risk & Volatility

Usio has a beta of 1.41, meaning that its share price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sezzle has a beta of 8.68, meaning that its share price is 768% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Sezzle beats Usio on 12 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 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.