Head to Head Contrast: Cantaloupe (NASDAQ:CTLP) & Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR)

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) and Cantaloupe (NASDAQ:CTLP) are both business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings and institutional ownership.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Shift4 Payments and Cantaloupe”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shift4 Payments	$3.33 billion	1.65	$229.60 million	$2.13	29.16
Cantaloupe	$302.55 million	2.64	$64.53 million	$0.21	51.62

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

Institutional & Insider Ownership

98.9% of Shift4 Payments shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.8% of Cantaloupe shares are held by institutional investors. 25.2% of Shift4 Payments shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Cantaloupe shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Shift4 Payments has a beta of 1.66, meaning that its stock price is 66% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cantaloupe has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Shift4 Payments and Cantaloupe’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%
Cantaloupe	19.21%	9.58%	6.25%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Shift4 Payments and Cantaloupe, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shift4 Payments	0	7	14	1	2.73
Cantaloupe	1	7	0	0	1.88

Shift4 Payments presently has a consensus price target of $92.25, suggesting a potential upside of 48.52%. Cantaloupe has a consensus price target of $12.73, suggesting a potential upside of 17.47%. Given Shift4 Payments’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Shift4 Payments is more favorable than Cantaloupe.

Summary

Shift4 Payments beats Cantaloupe on 12 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 Cantaloupe

Cantaloupe, Inc., a digital payments and software services company, provides technology solutions for self-service commerce market. The company offers integrated solutions for payments processing, logistics, and back-office management. It also provides G11 cashless and pulse kits that are 4G LTE digital payment devices for payment and consumer engagement applications; G11 chip kit, a digital reader that accepts contact EMV and contactless EMV payment methods; Engage series comprising Engage and Engage Combo, which are digital touchscreen devices that offers networking, security, and interactivity payment methods; and card touchscreen card readers, including P66, P100, P100Pro, and P30. In addition, the company offers self-checkout kiosks,?smart store?concepts, and the Cantaloupe Go management platform comprising Go Mini, Go MiniX, Go Plus100, Go Plus200, Go Plus300, Go Max, Cooler Cafe, and Smart Market; Go Portal, a robust cloud-based platform; and Cheq products, which supports attended and unattended self-service kiosks for the stadium, entertainment, and festival sectors. Further, it provides integrated software services for payment or asset tracking devices in the field to connect into platform for advanced data management, analytics, route scheduling, and loyalty and reward programs; and a range of self-service hardware solutions for vending, micro-markets, amusement, arcade, commercial laundry, air/vacuum, car wash, and other applications. Additionally, the company offers professional, network infrastructure, card processing, and customer/consumer services. Cantaloupe, Inc. was formerly known as USA Technologies, Inc. The company was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Malvern, Pennsylvania.