Comparing WEX (NYSE:WEX) and NCR Atleos (NYSE:NATL)

NCR Atleos (NYSE:NATL) and WEX (NYSE:WEX) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

88.7% of NCR Atleos shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.5% of WEX shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of NCR Atleos shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of WEX shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares NCR Atleos and WEX”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NCR Atleos	$4.35 billion	0.79	$162.00 million	$2.58	18.02
WEX	$2.66 billion	2.56	$304.10 million	$10.04	19.94

WEX has lower revenue, but higher earnings than NCR Atleos. NCR Atleos is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WEX, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for NCR Atleos and WEX, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NCR Atleos	0	4	1	0	2.20
WEX	0	8	6	0	2.43

NCR Atleos currently has a consensus target price of $50.27, indicating a potential upside of 8.10%. WEX has a consensus target price of $183.30, indicating a potential downside of 8.42%. Given NCR Atleos’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe NCR Atleos is more favorable than WEX.

Profitability

This table compares NCR Atleos and WEX’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NCR Atleos	4.44%	83.41%	5.87%
WEX	12.56%	43.19%	3.53%

Risk & Volatility

NCR Atleos has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its share price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WEX has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

WEX beats NCR Atleos on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NCR Atleos

NCR Atleos Corporation operates as a financial technology company in the United States, rest of the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through three segments: Self-Service Banking, Network, and Telecommunications & Technology (T&T). The Self-Service Banking segment offers solutions, including a line of automated teller machine (ATM) and interactive teller machine (ITM) hardware and software, as well as related installation, maintenance, and managed and professional services; and solutions to manage and run the ATM channel end-to-end for financial institutions comprising back office, cash management, software management and ATM deployment, and others. The Network segment provides a network of ATMs and multi-functioning financial services kiosks for financial institutions, fintechs, neobanks, and retailers; Allpoint network for credit unions, banks, digital banks, fintechs, stored-value debit card issuers, and other consumer financial services providers; ReadyCode to convert a digital value to cash or cash to a digital value; ATM branding solutions to financial institutions; ATM management and services to retailers and other businesses; and engages in the buying and selling of Bitcoins. The T&T segment offers managed network and infrastructure services to enterprise clients across various industries through communications service providers and technology manufacturers; and professional, field, and remote services for modern network technologies, including software-defined wide area networking, network functions virtualization, wireless local area networks, optical networking, and edge networks. NCR Atleos Corporation is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About WEX

WEX Inc. operates a commerce platform in the United States and internationally. The Mobility segment offers fleet vehicle payment solutions, transaction processing, and information management services; and provides account activation and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; account management; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions; and ancillary services and offerings. This segment markets its products directly and indirectly to businesses and government agencies with fleets of commercial vehicles; and indirectly through co-branded and private label relationships. The Corporate Payments segment provides payment solutions, including embedded payments; and accounts payable automation and spend management solutions. This segment also markets its products directly and indirectly to customers in travel, fintech, insurance, consumer bill pay, and media verticals. The Benefits Solutions segment offers software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for consumer directed healthcare benefits and full-service benefit enrollment solutions. In addition, its SaaS platform includes embedded payment solutions and plan administration services for consumer-directed health benefits; COBRA accounts; and benefit enrollment and administration services. Further, it offers custodial and depository services for health savings accounts; and markets its products through third-party administrators, financial institutions, payroll providers, and health plans. The company was formerly known as Wright Express Corporation and changed its name to WEX Inc. in October 2012. WEX Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Portland, Maine.