Financial Review: Flywire (NASDAQ:FLYW) vs. MultiPlan (NYSE:MPLN)

Flywire (NASDAQ:FLYW) and MultiPlan (NYSE:MPLN) are both computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Flywire and MultiPlan, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Flywire	0	4	10	1	2.80
MultiPlan	0	2	0	0	2.00

Flywire presently has a consensus target price of $24.86, indicating a potential upside of 8.45%. MultiPlan has a consensus target price of $25.00, indicating a potential upside of 260.23%. Given MultiPlan’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe MultiPlan is more favorable than Flywire.

Risk & Volatility

Flywire has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, MultiPlan has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Flywire and MultiPlan’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Flywire	4.23%	2.49%	1.86%
MultiPlan	-163.30%	-12.14%	-1.84%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

95.9% of Flywire shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.2% of MultiPlan shares are held by institutional investors. 3.9% of Flywire shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.0% of MultiPlan shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Flywire and MultiPlan”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Flywire	$475.14 million	6.00	-$8.57 million	$0.15	152.80
MultiPlan	$961.52 million	0.12	-$91.70 million	($95.05)	-0.07

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

Summary

Flywire beats MultiPlan on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Flywire

Flywire Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a payments enablement and software company in the United States and internationally. Its payment platform and network, and vertical-specific software help clients to get paid and help their customers to pay. The company’s platform facilitates payment flows across multiple currencies, payment types, and payment options, as well as provides direct connections to alternative payment methods, such as Alipay, Boleto, PayPal/Venmo, and Trustly. It serves education, healthcare, travel, and business to business organizations. The company was formerly known as peerTransfer Corporation and changed its name to Flywire Corporation in December 2016. Flywire Corporation was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About MultiPlan

MultiPlan Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides data analytics and technology-enabled cost management, payment, and revenue integrity solutions to the healthcare industry in the United States. The company offers analytics-based services that reduce medical costs, through data-driven algorithms and insights that detect claims over-charges and negotiate or recommend reimbursement; and network-based services that provide contracted discounts with healthcare providers, as well as outsourced network development and management services. It provides payment and revenue integrity services, such as identifying and removing improper and unnecessary charges paid during the claim, as well as services to identify and help restore and preserve underpaid premium dollars. In addition, the company offers data and decision science services including a suite of solutions that apply modern methods of data science to produce descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics that drive optimized benefit plan design, support decision-making, improve clinical outcomes, and reduce the total cost of care; and business-to-business healthcare payments and other services. It serves national and regional insurance companies, Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, provider-sponsored and independent health plans, TPAs, self-insured health plans, property and casualty insurers, bill review companies, and other companies involved in the claim adjudication process. MultiPlan Corporation was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in New York, New York.