Head to Head Review: Nayax (NASDAQ:NYAX) vs. FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS)

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) and Nayax (NASDAQ:NYAX) are both mid-cap business services companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, profitability and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.3% of FirstCash shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.9% of Nayax shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.9% of FirstCash shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares FirstCash and Nayax’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FirstCash	9.02%	17.99%	8.03%
Nayax	6.49%	6.51%	2.17%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for FirstCash and Nayax, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FirstCash	0	2	3	1	2.83
Nayax	1	3	3	0	2.29

FirstCash currently has a consensus price target of $177.50, indicating a potential downside of 3.59%. Nayax has a consensus price target of $49.00, indicating a potential downside of 11.92%. Given FirstCash’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe FirstCash is more favorable than Nayax.

Risk and Volatility

FirstCash has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nayax has a beta of 0.14, meaning that its stock price is 86% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares FirstCash and Nayax”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FirstCash	$3.66 billion	2.21	$330.38 million	$7.42	24.81
Nayax	$314.01 million	6.28	-$5.63 million	$0.64	86.92

FirstCash has higher revenue and earnings than Nayax. FirstCash is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nayax, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

FirstCash beats Nayax on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About FirstCash

FirstCash Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates retail pawn stores in the United States, Mexico, and rest of Latin America. The company operates in three segments: U.S. Pawn, Latin America Pawn, and Retail POS Payment Solutions segments. Its pawn stores lend money on the collateral of pledged personal property, including jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, and musical instruments; and retails merchandise acquired through collateral forfeitures on forfeited pawn loans and over-the-counter purchases of merchandise directly from customers. The company also provides retail POS payment solutions, which focuses on LTO products and facilitating other retail financing payment options across the network of traditional and e-commerce merchant partners. It serves cash and credit-constrained consumers. The company was formerly known as FirstCash, Inc and changed its name to FirstCash Holdings, Inc. in December 2021. FirstCash Holdings, Inc was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

About Nayax

Nayax Ltd., a fintech company, operates system and payment platform for multiple retailers in the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, and rest of the world. The company offers AMIT 3.0, a machine-to-machine vending telemetry solution; Nayax Core, a management and monitoring software for vending machines and other unattended machines; MoMa, a mobile app for unattended machine; Tigapo back-office software suite, a cloud-based platform; EV Core, a smart, cloud-based management platform; Retail Management Cloud, a comprehensive attended retail management platform; Loyalty and Marketing Suite, a consumer engagement marketing and loyalty platform; Monyx Wallet, a digital wallet app enabling cashless payments with mobile phones; Weezmo, a consumer engagement and marketing platform; and Tigapo app, a proprietary mobile app to help family entertainment center businesses. It provides electric vehicle charging stations; VPOS Touch, a credit card reader cashless payment device; VPOS Fusion, a cashless payment card reader; ONYX, a contactless card reader and telemetry device; NOVA 156, an electronic cash register; DOT, a smart QR and barcode reader; UNO Plus and UNO 8, which are EMV and FeliCa contactless readers; EMV SOM, a PCI-PTS ready contactless EMV reader module; Nova Market, a cashless micro market and self-checkout solution; NOVA 55, an a handheld smart point of sale (POS) device; NOVA 45, a handheld mini smart terminals for attended POS; and Retail One, a universal retail solution that integrates directly with SAP. The company sells its products directly, as well as through resellers and distributors. It serves various verticals, including vending machines, coffee machines, unattended checkout counters, self-service kiosks, ticketing machines, car wash stations, gaming machines, amusement rides, laundromats, and EV charging stations. Nayax Ltd. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Herzliya, Israel.