FOUR vs PAY vs WEX Stock Comparison

Shift4 Payments, Paymentus Holdings and Wex Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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FOUR Shift4 Payments, Inc.
$39.24 +5.8% 1M -44.0% 1Y
Market cap
$6.10B
P/E
71.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$4.78B
Div. yield
–
Payment Processing Technology
2 wins
PAY Paymentus Holdings, Inc.
$32.24 +7.5% 1M +9.6% 1Y
Market cap
$4.06B
P/E
47.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.36B
Div. yield
–
Payment Processing Technology
2 wins
WEX WEX Inc.
$183.29 +6.9% 1M +19.0% 1Y
Market cap
$6.10B
P/E
15.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$2.88B
Div. yield
–
Payment Processing Technology
7 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Wex leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Wex 7, Shift4 Payments 2, Paymentus Holdings 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionFOURPAYWEXLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $6.10B $4.06B $6.10B WEX
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 71.0x 47.8x 15.4x WEX
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 7.1x 38.8x 8.6x FOUR
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +32.4% +30.2% +9.7% FOUR
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 0.9% 6.2% 14.0% WEX
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 4.9% — 8.5% WEX
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 4.5x — 0.0x WEX
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield — — — –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -44.0% +9.6% +19.0% WEX
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -9.1%/yr +4.7%/yr +4.1%/yr PAY
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 65.9% 60.9% 41.6% WEX
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 66/100 73/100 55/100 PAY

Percentile Scorecard

FOURPAYWEX

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisFOURPAYWEX
Valuation 89 #12 of 99 66 #34 of 99 60 #40 of 99
Growth 70 #29 of 94 90 #10 of 94 43 #54 of 94
Profitability 67 #30 of 90 74 #24 of 90 71 #27 of 90
Financial Health 19 #85 of 105 96 #5 of 105 34 #70 of 105
Shareholder Returns 85 #10 of 60 39 #37 of 60 68 #20 of 60
Overall 66 73 55
  • FOUR ranked among 109 companies in Fintech
  • PAY ranked among 109 companies in Fintech
  • WEX ranked among 109 companies in Fintech

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodFOURPAYWEXSPY
1 month +5.8%+7.5%+6.9% +0.7%
3 months -27.0%-7.5%-1.7% +3.7%
6 months -11.4%+14.9%+21.9% +7.1%
Year to date -37.7%+2.1%+23.0% +12.8%
1 year -44.0%+9.6%+19.0% +11.9%
3 years -10.7%+119.0%+12.1% +85.2%
3 years, per year -3.7%+29.9%+3.9% +22.8%
5 years -37.8%+25.9%+22.4% +67.6%
5 years, per year -9.1%+4.7%+4.1% +10.9%
10 years ——+62.3% +262.0%
10 years, per year ——+5.0% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureFOURPAYWEXSPY
Volatility, 1Y 65.9%60.9%41.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 69.8%56.9%44.7% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.430.780.30 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.670.160.46 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -71.7%-80.0%-53.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -46.8%-27.8%-9.8% -1.2%
52-week high $73.78$44.65$203.22 $779.14
52-week low $35.57$20.21$126.86 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleFOURPAYWEX
P/E now vs peer median 71.0xmedian 19.5x 47.8xmedian 19.5x 15.4xmedian 19.5x
P/S now vs peer median 1.3xmedian 2.2x 3.0xmedian 2.2x 2.1xmedian 2.2x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 11.0xmedian 17.8x 25.4xmedian 17.8x 5.6xmedian 17.8x
P/FCF now vs peer median 14.1xmedian 16.1x 25.5xmedian 16.1x -21.0xmedian 16.1x
P/B now vs peer median 3.5xmedian 2.0x 6.6xmedian 2.0x 5.3xmedian 2.0x
PEG now vs peer median -2.08median 0.98 0.37median 0.98 0.66median 0.98

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsFOURPAYWEX
Revenue $4.78B $1.36B $2.88B
Gross profit $1.72B $339.38M $1.74B
Operating income $387.50M $103.10M $766.50M
Net income $122.40M $84.86M $404.60M
Free cash flow $433.00M $159.14M -$291.30M
R&D – $62.79M –
EPS (diluted) $0.55 $0.66 $11.69
Cash & equivalents $356.00M $377.69M $593.20M
Total debt $4.51B – $5.32B
Shares (diluted) 79.64M 129.01M 34.60M
Enterprise value $2.91B $2.73B -$15.91B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricFOURPAYWEX
P/E 71.0x 47.8x 15.4x
P/FCF 14.1x 25.5x -21.0x
P/Operating cash flow 10.3x 25.5x -48.9x
P/S 1.3x 3.0x 2.1x
P/B 3.5x 6.6x 5.3x
P/Tangible book -5.2x 6.7x 42.4x
EV/EBITDA 11.0x 25.4x 5.6x
EV/EBIT 26.5x 35.7x 8.0x
EV/Revenue 2.1x 2.7x 2.1x
EV/FCF 23.7x 23.1x -21.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 17.3x 23.1x -49.3x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -2.08 0.37 0.66

Growth

14 metrics
MetricFOURPAYWEX
Revenue growth (1Y) 32.4% 30.2% 9.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 28.2% 34.6% 4.8%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 55.7% 28.5% 12.2%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 42.6% 27.2% 4.3%
Operating income growth (1Y) 41.2% 78.1% 17.0%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 45.3% 189.2% 6.0%
Net income growth (1Y) -55.2% 51.3% 42.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -4.9% 132.4% 14.4%
EPS growth (1Y) -77.1% 51.3% 43.4%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -34.2% 129.3% 23.4%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 16.0% 36.8% -115.7%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 16.4% 53.6% -29.5%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 8.8% 36.9% -144.3%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 13.3% 54.4% -35.8%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricFOURPAYWEX
Gross margin 35.9% 24.9% 60.4%
EBITDA margin 19.5% 10.7% 38.1%
Operating margin 8.1% 7.6% 26.6%
Pretax margin 3.2% 8.4% 19.3%
Net margin 0.9% 6.2% 14.0%
FCF margin 9.1% 11.7% -10.1%
Operating cash flow margin 12.4% 11.7% -4.3%
Return on equity 7.0% 14.2% 32.4%
Return on assets 1.4% 11.9% 2.5%
Return on invested capital 4.9% – 8.5%
Return on capital employed 5.5% 16.9% 15.0%
Asset turnover 0.5x 1.9x 0.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 4.8x 1.9x -0.3x
Stock comp / revenue 1.8% 1.8% 4.5%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricFOURPAYWEX
Debt / assets 51.9% – 32.9%
Debt / equity 2.6x – 4.6x
Net debt / EBITDA 4.5x – 0.0x
Debt / FCF 10.4x – -18.3x
Liabilities / assets 80.1% 15.4% 92.9%
Equity / assets 19.9% 84.6% 7.1%
Interest coverage 1.5x – 3.5x
Current ratio 1.2x 4.9x 1.0x
Quick ratio 1.1x 4.8x 0.9x
Cash ratio 0.2x 3.7x 0.5x
Altman Z-score 1.17 25.16 0.83

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricFOURPAYWEX
Dividend yield – – –
Net buyback yield 10.3% 0.0% 4.4%
Shareholder yield 10.3% 0.0% 4.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusFOURPAYWEX
Forward P/E 7.1xFY2026 38.8xFY2026 8.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $5.50FY2026 $0.83FY2026 $21.31FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +6.4%FY2026 +25.8%FY2026 +32.4%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +8.7% +24.1% -6.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $2.44BFY2026 $1.36BFY2026 $2.97BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +23.2%FY2026 +13.7%FY2026 +11.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +6.6% +33.1% -3.1%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersFOURPAYWEX
Held by institutions 87.4% 44.9% 100.0%
Institutions holding 358 185 418
Change in shares held, QoQ -2.3% +3.9% +2.5%
Institutions buying 187 116 189
Institutions selling 142 55 166
Buyers to sellers 1.32 2.11 1.14

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

FOURPAYWEX
FOUR 1.00 0.36 0.41
PAY 0.36 1.00 0.34
WEX 0.41 0.34 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, FOUR, PAY and WEX?

Wex (WEX) is the largest by market capitalisation: Shift4 Payments (FOUR) $6.10B, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) $4.06B, Wex (WEX) $6.10B.

Which stock is cheaper, FOUR, PAY and WEX?

Wex (WEX) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Shift4 Payments (FOUR) 71.0x, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) 47.8x, Wex (WEX) 15.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Shift4 Payments (FOUR) is cheapest (Shift4 Payments (FOUR) 7.1x, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) 38.8x, Wex (WEX) 8.6x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Shift4 Payments (FOUR) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Shift4 Payments (FOUR) +32.4%, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) +30.2%, Wex (WEX) +9.7%.

Which company is more profitable?

Wex (WEX) has the highest net margin (Shift4 Payments (FOUR) 0.9%, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) 6.2%, Wex (WEX) 14.0%). On return on invested capital, Wex (WEX) leads (Shift4 Payments (FOUR) 4.9%, Wex (WEX) 8.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Wex (WEX) returned the most: Shift4 Payments (FOUR) -44.0%, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) +9.6%, Wex (WEX) +19.0%. Over five years, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) compounded fastest (Shift4 Payments (FOUR) -9.1%/yr, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) +4.7%/yr, Wex (WEX) +4.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Wex (WEX) has been the steadiest (Shift4 Payments (FOUR) 65.9%, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) 60.9%, Wex (WEX) 41.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, FOUR, PAY and WEX?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Wex (WEX) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.