Shift4 Payments vs Western Union
FOUR and WU side by side, both in miscellaneous business services. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How FOUR and WU compare
Shift4 Payments is the larger company, worth 1.6 times as much as Western Union ($3.2B against $1.9B).
Shift4 Payments grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (32.4% versus −1.6% for Western Union).
Western Union keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 9.8% compared with 2.2% at Shift4 Payments.
Western Union pays a dividend yielding 15.3%; Shift4 Payments does not pay one.
Western Union scores higher on the StockData Score (13 against 8 for Shift4 Payments), which adds up 30 checks on valuation, growth, past performance, financial health and dividends.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | FOUR | WU |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $3.2B | $1.9B |
| Share price | $40.03 | $6.16 |
| Change, 1 year | −42.8% | −35.4% |
| Change, 5 years | −34.0% | −66.0% |
| Beta (5Y) | 1.56 | 0.65 |
| Employees | 6,300 | 9,600 |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 8 | 13 (better) |
| Valuation score | 3 | 6 (better) |
| Growth score | 3 (better) | 0 |
| Performance score | 1 | 1 |
| Health score | 1 (better) | 0 |
| Dividend score | 0 | 6 (better) |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | – | 5.0× |
| P/S | 0.7× | 0.5× (better) |
| P/B | 2.0× | – |
| EV/EBITDA | 8.1× | 1.6× (better) |
| P/FCF | 5.5× | 3.4× (better) |
| FCF yield | 18.1% | 29.4% (better) |
| Fair value | $94.52 | $21.08 |
| Margin of safety | 57.6% | 70.8% (better) |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 32.4% (better) | −1.6% |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | 40.4% (better) | −3.5% |
| Net income growth (TTM) | −52.4% (better) | −55.9% |
| EPS growth (TTM) | – | −53.6% |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | – | −3.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 35.9% (better) | 35.1% |
| Operating margin | 8.1% | 15.9% (better) |
| Net margin | 2.2% | 9.8% (better) |
| FCF margin | 12.0% | 14.0% (better) |
| Return on equity | 6.6% | – |
| Return on invested capital | 7.9% | – |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 2.79 | – |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.52 | – |
| Interest coverage | 1.5× | 4.3× (better) |
| Current ratio | 1.21 | – |
| Altman Z-score | 0.91 | 0.92 (better) |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 (better) | 5 |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | – | 15.3% |
| Payout ratio | – | 76.6% |
| Years of dividend growth | – | 0 |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | – | 0.87% |
| Buyback yield | 19.8% (better) | 7.4% |
| Shareholder yield | 19.8% | 22.7% (better) |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 87.5% | 96.0% |
| Held by insiders | 30.3% | 1.6% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | $32.3M (better) | −$151K |
| Superinvestors holding | 2 (better) | 1 |
| Short interest, % of float | 26.5% | 19.1% |
Go deeper
- FOUR stock overview
- FOUR income statement
- FOUR valuation and score
- WU stock overview
- WU income statement
- WU valuation and score
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.