Paychex (PAYX) Competitors

Paychex (NASDAQ:PAYX) and Fiserv (NYSE:FI) are both large-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and community ranking.

Is PAYX or FI more profitable?

Paychex has a net margin of 32.02% compared to Fiserv's net margin of 15.31%. Paychex's return on equity of 45.28% beat Fiserv's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Paychex	32.02%	45.28%	15.61%
Fiserv	15.31%	17.93%	5.97%

Does the media favor PAYX or FI?

In the previous week, Fiserv had 23 more articles in the media than Paychex. MarketBeat recorded 49 mentions for Fiserv and 26 mentions for Paychex. Paychex's average media sentiment score of 1.59 beat Fiserv's score of 1.38 indicating that Paychex is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Paychex	24 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Fiserv	40 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings & valuation, PAYX or FI?

Fiserv has higher revenue and earnings than Paychex. Paychex is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Fiserv, 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
Paychex	$5.28B	10.25	$1.69B	$4.75	31.63
Fiserv	$20.46B	6.53	$3.13B	$5.39	43.53

Do insiders & institutionals believe in PAYX or FI?

83.5% of Paychex shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.0% of Fiserv shares are held by institutional investors. 11.4% of Paychex shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Fiserv shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in PAYX or FI?

Fiserv received 456 more outperform votes than Paychex when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.77% of users gave Fiserv an outperform vote while only 41.63% of users gave Paychex an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Paychex	Outperform Votes 343 41.63%	Underperform Votes 481 58.37%
Fiserv	Outperform Votes 799 63.77%	Underperform Votes 454 36.23%

Which has more risk & volatility, PAYX or FI?

Paychex has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Fiserv has a beta of 0.94, meaning that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate PAYX or FI?

Paychex currently has a consensus target price of $132.23, suggesting a potential downside of 12.00%. Fiserv has a consensus target price of $239.83, suggesting a potential upside of 2.22%. Given Fiserv's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Fiserv is more favorable than Paychex.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Paychex	2 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.85
Fiserv	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	21 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Summary

Fiserv beats Paychex on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.