GPN vs PAY vs WEX Stock Comparison

Global Payments, Paymentus Holdings and Wex Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
GPN Global Payments Inc
$81.87 -5.4% 1M -6.3% 1Y
Market cap
$22.02B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$10.23B
Div. yield
0.01%
Payment Processing Technology
4 wins
PAY Paymentus Holdings, Inc.
$32.48 +7.6% 1M +4.1% 1Y
Market cap
$4.02B
P/E
47.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.36B
Div. yield
–
Payment Processing Technology
2 wins
WEX WEX Inc.
$192.07 +7.7% 1M +20.1% 1Y
Market cap
$6.42B
P/E
18.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$2.79B
Div. yield
–
Payment Processing Technology
5 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Wex leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Wex 5, Global Payments 4, Paymentus Holdings 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionGPNPAYWEXLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $22.02B $4.02B $6.42B GPN
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -23.6x 47.4x 18.3x WEX
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 6.4x 39.1x 9.0x GPN
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +32.5% +30.2% +7.5% GPN
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -9.1% 6.2% 12.6% WEX
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 2.3% — 7.8% WEX
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 4.8x — -0.7x WEX
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -6.3% +4.1% +20.1% WEX
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -10.7%/yr +5.3%/yr +0.8%/yr PAY
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 40.6% 61.1% 41.6% GPN
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 50/100 72/100 53/100 PAY

Percentile Scorecard

GPNPAYWEX

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

AxisGPNPAYWEX
Valuation 75 #26 of 99 63 #37 of 99 69 #31 of 99
Growth 26 #70 of 94 89 #11 of 94 46 #51 of 94
Profitability 64 #33 of 90 75 #23 of 90 72 #26 of 90
Financial Health 23 #81 of 105 96 #5 of 105 31 #73 of 105
Shareholder Returns 62 #24 of 61 38 #38 of 61 45 #34 of 61
Overall 50 72 53
  • GPN 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

PeriodGPNPAYWEXSPY
1 month -5.4%+7.6%+7.7% -0.8%
3 months -2.6%+3.2%+7.9% +3.5%
6 months +19.8%+17.1%+28.8% +7.0%
Year to date +5.8%+2.8%+28.9% +12.2%
1 year -6.3%+4.1%+20.1% +13.0%
3 years -20.3%+127.3%+17.6% +86.3%
3 years, per year -7.3%+31.5%+5.6% +23.1%
5 years -43.2%+29.3%+4.3% +68.6%
5 years, per year -10.7%+5.3%+0.8% +11.0%
10 years +11.1%—+81.4% +258.0%
10 years, per year +1.1%—+6.1% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureGPNPAYWEXSPY
Volatility, 1Y 40.6%61.1%41.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 37.1%57.3%44.6% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.020.800.30 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.150.070.48 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -58.8%-80.0%-53.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -13.7%-27.3%-5.5% -1.8%
52-week high $94.85$44.65$203.22 $779.14
52-week low $62.47$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.

MultipleGPNPAYWEX
P/E now vs peer median -23.7xmedian 20.6x 48.2xmedian 20.6x 19.0xmedian 20.6x
P/S now vs peer median 2.1xmedian 2.3x 3.0xmedian 2.3x 2.4xmedian 2.3x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 10.6xmedian 15.4x 25.6xmedian 15.4x 5.6xmedian 15.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 26.5xmedian 16.4x 25.7xmedian 16.4x 60.7xmedian 16.4x
P/B now vs peer median 0.9xmedian 1.9x 6.7xmedian 1.9x 4.9xmedian 1.9x
PEG now vs peer median 0.51median 1.05 0.37median 1.05 0.68median 1.05

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 monthsGPNPAYWEX
Revenue $10.23B $1.36B $2.79B
Gross profit $6.54B $339.38M $1.66B
Operating income $1.27B $103.10M $711.30M
Net income -$873.78M $84.86M $350.80M
Free cash flow $822.72M $159.14M $108.50M
R&D – $62.79M –
EPS (diluted) $-3.46 $0.66 $10.05
Cash & equivalents $5.41B $377.69M $1.16B
Total debt $23.56B – $5.36B
Shares (diluted) 270.12M 129.01M 34.90M
Enterprise value -$187.97M $2.69B -$15.27B

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
MetricGPNPAYWEX
P/E -23.7x 48.2x 19.0x
P/FCF 26.5x 25.7x 60.7x
P/Operating cash flow 13.1x 25.6x 25.1x
P/S 2.1x 3.0x 2.4x
P/B 0.9x 6.7x 4.9x
P/Tangible book 5.0x 6.8x 22.7x
EV/EBITDA 10.6x 25.6x 5.6x
EV/EBIT 31.5x 36.0x 8.2x
EV/Revenue 3.9x 2.7x 2.1x
EV/FCF 48.5x 23.3x 53.9x
EV/Operating cash flow 24.1x 23.3x 22.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.51 0.37 0.68

Growth

14 metrics
MetricGPNPAYWEX
Revenue growth (1Y) 32.5% 30.2% 7.5%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 3.3% 34.6% 4.2%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 14.8% 28.5% 7.5%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 5.7% 27.2% 3.9%
Operating income growth (1Y) -33.4% 78.1% 6.5%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -4.4% 189.2% 13.2%
Net income growth (1Y) -158.6% 51.3% 14.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -44.6% 132.4% 19.1%
EPS growth (1Y) -158.9% 51.3% 12.9%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -46.2% 129.3% 28.0%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -46.4% 36.8% -38.1%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -9.1% 53.6% -37.9%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -66.6% 36.9% -61.8%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -19.7% 54.4% -51.8%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricGPNPAYWEX
Gross margin 63.9% 24.9% 59.6%
EBITDA margin 36.8% 10.7% 37.3%
Operating margin 12.4% 7.6% 25.5%
Pretax margin 5.5% 8.4% 17.4%
Net margin -9.1% 6.2% 12.6%
FCF margin 8.0% 11.7% 3.9%
Operating cash flow margin 16.2% 11.7% 9.4%
Return on equity -3.5% 14.2% 26.8%
Return on assets -1.3% 11.9% 2.2%
Return on invested capital 2.3% – 7.8%
Return on capital employed 2.5% 16.9% 15.3%
Asset turnover 0.2x 1.9x 0.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) -1.9x 1.9x 0.7x
Stock comp / revenue 1.3% 1.8% 4.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricGPNPAYWEX
Debt / assets 37.1% – 32.5%
Debt / equity 1.0x – 4.0x
Net debt / EBITDA 4.8x – -0.7x
Debt / FCF 28.6x – 49.4x
Liabilities / assets 62.6% 15.4% 91.9%
Equity / assets 37.4% 84.6% 8.1%
Interest coverage 1.5x – 3.1x
Current ratio 0.8x 4.9x 1.0x
Quick ratio 0.7x 4.8x 1.0x
Cash ratio 0.4x 3.7x 0.5x
Altman Z-score 0.60 25.32 0.83

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricGPNPAYWEX
Dividend yield 1.2% – –
Net buyback yield 7.2% 0.0% 1.0%
Shareholder yield 8.4% 0.0% 1.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) -28.8% – –
Payout ratio (FCF) 30.6% – –
Dividend growth (1Y) 1.8% – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) -1.7% – –

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.

ConsensusGPNPAYWEX
Forward P/E 6.4xFY2026 39.1xFY2026 9.0xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $12.82FY2026 $0.83FY2026 $21.31FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +4.9%FY2026 +25.8%FY2026 +32.4%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +18.0% +24.1% -6.7%
Revenue, next fiscal year $12.66BFY2026 $1.36BFY2026 $2.97BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +35.9%FY2026 +13.7%FY2026 +11.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +8.4% +33.1% -3.1%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersGPNPAYWEX
Held by institutions 100.0% 89.6% 100.0%
Institutions holding 792 185 417
Change in shares held, QoQ +7.4% +3.9% +2.5%
Institutions buying 374 116 189
Institutions selling 307 55 166
Buyers to sellers 1.22 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.

GPNPAYWEX
GPN 1.00 0.48 0.49
PAY 0.48 1.00 0.34
WEX 0.49 0.34 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, GPN, PAY and WEX?

Global Payments (GPN) is the largest by market capitalisation: Global Payments (GPN) $22.02B, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) $4.02B, Wex (WEX) $6.42B.

Which stock is cheaper, GPN, PAY and WEX?

Wex (WEX) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Global Payments (GPN) -23.6x, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) 47.4x, Wex (WEX) 18.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, Global Payments (GPN) is cheapest (Global Payments (GPN) 6.4x, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) 39.1x, Wex (WEX) 9.0x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Global Payments (GPN) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Global Payments (GPN) +32.5%, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) +30.2%, Wex (WEX) +7.5%.

Which company is more profitable?

Wex (WEX) has the highest net margin (Global Payments (GPN) -9.1%, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) 6.2%, Wex (WEX) 12.6%). On return on invested capital, Wex (WEX) leads (Global Payments (GPN) 2.3%, Wex (WEX) 7.8%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Wex (WEX) returned the most: Global Payments (GPN) -6.3%, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) +4.1%, Wex (WEX) +20.1%. Over five years, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) compounded fastest (Global Payments (GPN) -10.7%/yr, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) +5.3%/yr, Wex (WEX) +0.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Global Payments (GPN) 0.01%, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) 0.00%, Wex (WEX) 0.00%. Paymentus Holdings (PAY) and Wex (WEX) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Global Payments (GPN) has been the steadiest (Global Payments (GPN) 40.6%, Paymentus Holdings (PAY) 61.1%, Wex (WEX) 41.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, GPN, 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 5. 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.