HealthEquity (HQY) Competitors

HealthEquity (NASDAQ:HQY) and Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) are both mid-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, community ranking, earnings, profitability and media sentiment.

Which has more volatility and risk, HQY or FOUR?

HealthEquity has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shift4 Payments has a beta of 1.64, suggesting that its share price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of HQY or FOUR?

99.6% of HealthEquity shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.9% of Shift4 Payments shares are held by institutional investors. 2.2% of HealthEquity shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 30.6% of Shift4 Payments shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend HQY or FOUR?

HealthEquity presently has a consensus price target of $107.23, indicating a potential upside of 4.15%. Shift4 Payments has a consensus price target of $100.15, indicating a potential downside of 1.72%. Given HealthEquity's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe HealthEquity is more favorable than Shift4 Payments.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
HealthEquity	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92
Shift4 Payments	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	18 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer HQY or FOUR?

HealthEquity received 436 more outperform votes than Shift4 Payments when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.88% of users gave HealthEquity an outperform vote while only 60.78% of users gave Shift4 Payments an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
HealthEquity	Outperform Votes 529 69.88%	Underperform Votes 228 30.12%
Shift4 Payments	Outperform Votes 93 60.78%	Underperform Votes 60 39.22%

Does the media refer more to HQY or FOUR?

In the previous week, Shift4 Payments had 8 more articles in the media than HealthEquity. MarketBeat recorded 29 mentions for Shift4 Payments and 21 mentions for HealthEquity. HealthEquity's average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat Shift4 Payments' score of 0.45 indicating that HealthEquity is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
HealthEquity	11 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Shift4 Payments	11 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is HQY or FOUR more profitable?

HealthEquity has a net margin of 9.61% compared to Shift4 Payments' net margin of 4.04%. Shift4 Payments' return on equity of 23.86% beat HealthEquity's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
HealthEquity	9.61%	9.01%	5.73%
Shift4 Payments	4.04%	23.86%	5.87%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, HQY or FOUR?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
HealthEquity	$999.59M	8.99	$55.71M	$1.20	85.80
Shift4 Payments	$2.56B	3.52	$86.20M	$1.84	55.38

Summary

HealthEquity and Shift4 Payments tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.