Critical Review: ASAP (NASDAQ:WTRH) & Fiserv (NYSE:FI)

Fiserv (NYSE:FI) and ASAP (NASDAQ:WTRH) are both business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation and profitability.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.0% of Fiserv shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.3% of ASAP shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of Fiserv shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of ASAP shares are owned 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.

Risk & Volatility

Fiserv has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, ASAP has a beta of 0.57, meaning that its stock price is 43% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Fiserv and ASAP, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fiserv	0	7	17	0	2.71
ASAP	0	0	0	0	N/A

Fiserv currently has a consensus price target of $158.21, suggesting a potential upside of 2.88%. Given Fiserv’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Fiserv is more favorable than ASAP.

Profitability

This table compares Fiserv and ASAP’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fiserv	16.07%	15.16%	5.63%
ASAP	-131.13%	-52.13%	-19.80%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Fiserv and ASAP’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fiserv	$19.09 billion	4.74	$3.07 billion	$5.00	30.76
ASAP	$130.00 million	0.01	-$5.23 million	($1.03)	-0.01

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

Summary

Fiserv beats ASAP on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fiserv

Fiserv, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides payments and financial services technology services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. It operates through Merchant Acceptance, Financial Technology, and Payments and Network segments. The Merchant Acceptance segment provides merchant acquiring and digital commerce services; mobile payment services; security and fraud protection products; Clover, a cloud based POS and integrated commerce operating system for small and mid-sized businesses and independent software vendors; and Carat, an integrated operating system for large businesses. This segment distributes through various channels, including direct sales teams, strategic partnerships with agent sales forces, independent software vendors, financial institutions, and other strategic partners in the form of joint venture alliances, revenue sharing alliances, and referral agreement. The Financial Technology segment offers customer deposit and loan accounts, as well as manages an institution's general ledger and central information files. This segment also provides digital banking, financial and risk management, professional services and consulting, check processing, and other products and services. The Payments and Network segment offers card transactions, such as debit, credit, and prepaid card processing and services; funds access, debit payments, cardless ATM access, and surcharge-free ATM network; security and fraud protection products; card production; print services; and various network services, as well as non-card digital payment software and services, including bill payment, account-to-account transfers, person-to-person payments, electronic billing, and security and fraud protection products. It serves merchants, banks, credit unions, other financial institutions, and corporate clients. Fiserv, Inc. was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

About ASAP

ASAP, Inc. operates an online ordering technology platform in the United States. Its platform allows to order food, alcohol, convenience, grocery, flowers, auto parts, and others. The company's platform also facilitates access to third parties that provide payment processing solutions for restaurants and other merchants. As of June 30, 2022, it had approximately 27,000 restaurants in approximately 1,000 cities. The company was formerly known as Waitr Holdings Inc. and changed its name to ASAP, Inc. in August 2022. ASAP, Inc. was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.