Financial Review: Mastercard (NYSE:MA) & Nayax (NASDAQ:NYAX)

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) and Nayax (NASDAQ:NYAX) are both business services companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Volatility & Risk

Mastercard has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nayax has a beta of 0.14, suggesting that its share price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Mastercard and Nayax’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mastercard	45.28%	202.03%	29.11%
Nayax	6.49%	6.51%	2.17%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

97.3% of Mastercard shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.9% of Nayax shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Mastercard shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Mastercard and Nayax, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mastercard	0	3	21	5	3.07
Nayax	2	2	3	0	2.14

Mastercard presently has a consensus target price of $657.48, suggesting a potential upside of 14.22%. Nayax has a consensus target price of $49.00, suggesting a potential downside of 11.87%. Given Mastercard’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Mastercard is more favorable than Nayax.

Earnings & Valuation

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mastercard	$28.17 billion	18.35	$12.87 billion	$15.64	36.81
Nayax	$314.01 million	6.28	-$5.63 million	$0.64	86.88

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

Summary

Mastercard beats Nayax on 14 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions. It also provides solutions that enable businesses or governments to make payments to businesses, including Virtual Card Number, which is generated dynamically from a physical card and leverages the credit limit of the funding account; a platform to optimize supplier payment enablement campaigns for financial institutions; and treasury intelligence platform that offers corporations with recommendations to enhance working capital performance and accelerate spend on cards. In addition, the company offers Mastercard Send, which partners with digital messaging and payment platforms to enable consumers to send money directly within applications to other consumers; and Mastercard Cross-Border Services enables a range of payment flows through a distribution network with a single point of access to send and receive money globally through various channels, including bank accounts, mobile wallets, cards, and cash payouts. Further, it provides cyber and intelligence solutions; insights and analytics, consulting, marketing, loyalty, processing, and payment gateway solutions for e-commerce merchants; and open banking and digital identity services. The company offers payment solutions and services under the MasterCard, Maestro, and Cirrus name. Mastercard Incorporated was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.

About Nayax

Nayax Ltd., a fintech company, operates system and payment platform for multiple retailers in the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, and rest of the world. The company offers AMIT 3.0, a machine-to-machine vending telemetry solution; Nayax Core, a management and monitoring software for vending machines and other unattended machines; MoMa, a mobile app for unattended machine; Tigapo back-office software suite, a cloud-based platform; EV Core, a smart, cloud-based management platform; Retail Management Cloud, a comprehensive attended retail management platform; Loyalty and Marketing Suite, a consumer engagement marketing and loyalty platform; Monyx Wallet, a digital wallet app enabling cashless payments with mobile phones; Weezmo, a consumer engagement and marketing platform; and Tigapo app, a proprietary mobile app to help family entertainment center businesses. It provides electric vehicle charging stations; VPOS Touch, a credit card reader cashless payment device; VPOS Fusion, a cashless payment card reader; ONYX, a contactless card reader and telemetry device; NOVA 156, an electronic cash register; DOT, a smart QR and barcode reader; UNO Plus and UNO 8, which are EMV and FeliCa contactless readers; EMV SOM, a PCI-PTS ready contactless EMV reader module; Nova Market, a cashless micro market and self-checkout solution; NOVA 55, an a handheld smart point of sale (POS) device; NOVA 45, a handheld mini smart terminals for attended POS; and Retail One, a universal retail solution that integrates directly with SAP. The company sells its products directly, as well as through resellers and distributors. It serves various verticals, including vending machines, coffee machines, unattended checkout counters, self-service kiosks, ticketing machines, car wash stations, gaming machines, amusement rides, laundromats, and EV charging stations. Nayax Ltd. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel.