FirstCash (FCFS) Competitors

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) and CDW (NASDAQ:CDW) are both retail companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and risk.

Do analysts prefer FCFS or CDW?

FirstCash currently has a consensus target price of $133.50, indicating a potential downside of 2.38%. CDW has a consensus target price of $208.71, indicating a potential upside of 14.15%. Given CDW's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe CDW is more favorable than FirstCash.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FirstCash	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
CDW	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, FCFS or CDW?

CDW has higher revenue and earnings than FirstCash. FirstCash is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CDW, 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
FirstCash	$3.39B	1.79	$258.82M	$6.25	21.88
CDW	$21.00B	1.15	$1.08B	$8.07	22.66

Which has more volatility and risk, FCFS or CDW?

FirstCash has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, CDW has a beta of 0.93, meaning that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer FCFS or CDW?

In the previous week, CDW had 14 more articles in the media than FirstCash. MarketBeat recorded 17 mentions for CDW and 3 mentions for FirstCash. FirstCash's average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat CDW's score of 1.30 indicating that FirstCash is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
FirstCash	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
CDW	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is FCFS or CDW a better dividend stock?

FirstCash pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. CDW pays an annual dividend of $2.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. FirstCash pays out 24.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. CDW pays out 31.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. FirstCash has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years and CDW has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. CDW is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in FCFS or CDW?

80.3% of FirstCash shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.2% of CDW shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of FirstCash shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of CDW shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Is FCFS or CDW more profitable?

FirstCash has a net margin of 8.29% compared to CDW's net margin of 5.10%. CDW's return on equity of 54.90% beat FirstCash's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FirstCash	8.29%	16.08%	7.38%
CDW	5.10%	54.90%	8.75%

Summary

CDW beats FirstCash on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.