Shift4 Payments (FOUR) Competitors

Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) and CoStar Group (NASDAQ:CSGP) are both business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, community ranking, valuation, dividends and risk.

Which has more volatility and risk, FOUR or CSGP?

Shift4 Payments has a beta of 1.64, suggesting that its share price is 64% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CoStar Group has a beta of 0.82, suggesting that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in FOUR or CSGP?

98.9% of Shift4 Payments shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of CoStar Group shares are held by institutional investors. 30.6% of Shift4 Payments shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.6% of CoStar Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor FOUR or CSGP?

In the previous week, Shift4 Payments had 15 more articles in the media than CoStar Group. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for Shift4 Payments and 13 mentions for CoStar Group. CoStar Group's average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat Shift4 Payments' score of 0.45 indicating that CoStar Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Shift4 Payments	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
CoStar Group	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is FOUR or CSGP more profitable?

CoStar Group has a net margin of 6.57% compared to Shift4 Payments' net margin of 4.04%. Shift4 Payments' return on equity of 23.86% beat CoStar Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shift4 Payments	4.04%	23.86%	5.87%
CoStar Group	6.57%	3.53%	2.88%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, FOUR or CSGP?

CoStar Group has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Shift4 Payments. Shift4 Payments is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CoStar Group, 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
Shift4 Payments	$2.56B	3.52	$86.20M	$1.84	55.38
CoStar Group	$2.46B	12.74	$374.70M	$0.44	173.34

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in FOUR or CSGP?

CoStar Group received 557 more outperform votes than Shift4 Payments when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 75.41% of users gave CoStar Group an outperform vote while only 60.78% of users gave Shift4 Payments an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Shift4 Payments	Outperform Votes 93 60.78%	Underperform Votes 60 39.22%
CoStar Group	Outperform Votes 650 75.41%	Underperform Votes 212 24.59%

Do analysts recommend FOUR or CSGP?

Shift4 Payments currently has a consensus price target of $100.15, indicating a potential downside of 1.72%. CoStar Group has a consensus price target of $93.25, indicating a potential upside of 22.26%. Given CoStar Group's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe CoStar Group is more favorable than Shift4 Payments.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shift4 Payments	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	18 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.86
CoStar Group	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71

Summary

Shift4 Payments beats CoStar Group on 10 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.