Paychex (PAYX) Competitors

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

Do insiders & institutionals believe in FI or PAYX?

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

Does the media refer more to FI or PAYX?

In the previous week, Fiserv had 82 more articles in the media than Paychex. MarketBeat recorded 102 mentions for Fiserv and 20 mentions for Paychex. Paychex's average media sentiment score of 1.26 beat Fiserv's score of 0.64 indicating that Paychex is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Fiserv	47 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	14 Neutral mention(s)	18 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Paychex	15 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, FI or PAYX?

Fiserv has a beta of 0.91, indicating that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Paychex has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is FI or PAYX a better dividend stock?

Fiserv pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Paychex pays an annual dividend of $3.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Fiserv pays out 5.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Paychex pays out 81.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Is FI or PAYX 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
Fiserv	15.31%	17.93%	5.97%
Paychex	32.02%	45.28%	15.61%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer FI or PAYX?

Fiserv received 465 more outperform votes than Paychex when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.77% of users gave Fiserv an outperform vote while only 41.33% of users gave Paychex an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Fiserv	Outperform Votes 808 63.77%	Underperform Votes 459 36.23%
Paychex	Outperform Votes 343 41.33%	Underperform Votes 487 58.67%

Do analysts recommend FI or PAYX?

Fiserv presently has a consensus target price of $230.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.56%. Paychex has a consensus target price of $141.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.16%. 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
Fiserv	2 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	21 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.88
Paychex	2 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.83

Which has better earnings and valuation, FI or PAYX?

Fiserv has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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
Fiserv	$383.42M	269.00	$3.13B	$5.66	32.62
Paychex	$5.44B	9.74	$1.69B	$4.80	30.65

Summary

Fiserv beats Paychex on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.