Shift4 Payments (FOUR) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer CSGP or FOUR?

CoStar Group presently has a consensus price target of $93.25, suggesting a potential upside of 30.53%. Shift4 Payments has a consensus price target of $106.40, suggesting a potential upside of 2.78%. Given CoStar Group's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe CoStar Group is more favorable than Shift4 Payments.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CoStar Group	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71
Shift4 Payments	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	15 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71

Which has more volatility & risk, CSGP or FOUR?

CoStar Group has a beta of 0.83, suggesting that its share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shift4 Payments has a beta of 1.7, suggesting that its share price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in CSGP or FOUR?

96.6% of CoStar Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.9% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of CoStar Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 30.6% of Shift4 Payments shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor CSGP or FOUR?

CoStar Group received 557 more outperform votes than Shift4 Payments when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 75.46% of users gave CoStar Group an outperform vote while only 59.75% of users gave Shift4 Payments an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
CoStar Group	Outperform Votes 652 75.46%	Underperform Votes 212 24.54%
Shift4 Payments	Outperform Votes 95 59.75%	Underperform Votes 64 40.25%

Is CSGP or FOUR 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
CoStar Group	6.57%	3.53%	2.88%
Shift4 Payments	4.04%	23.86%	5.87%

Does the media refer more to CSGP or FOUR?

In the previous week, Shift4 Payments had 5 more articles in the media than CoStar Group. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Shift4 Payments and 7 mentions for CoStar Group. Shift4 Payments' average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat CoStar Group's score of 0.76 indicating that Shift4 Payments is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
CoStar Group	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Shift4 Payments	5 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings and valuation, CSGP or FOUR?

CoStar Group has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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
CoStar Group	$2.67B	10.98	$374.70M	$0.44	162.36
Shift4 Payments	$3.15B	2.96	$86.20M	$1.84	56.26

Summary

Shift4 Payments beats CoStar Group on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.