Reviewing Sezzle (SEZL) and The Competition

Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL) is one of 341 public companies in the “Financial Services” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Sezzle to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sezzle and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sezzle	$450.28 million	$133.13 million	27.90
Sezzle Competitors	$24.27 billion	$1.07 billion	8.51

Sezzle’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Sezzle. Sezzle is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

2.0% of Sezzle shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 43.0% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by institutional investors. 43.9% of Sezzle shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 21.7% of shares of all “Financial Services” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Sezzle has a beta of 6.71, suggesting that its stock price is 571% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sezzle’s competitors have a beta of 2.50, suggesting that their average stock price is 150% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Sezzle and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sezzle	30.35%	83.48%	37.55%
Sezzle Competitors	-409.63%	-16.12%	-6.09%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Sezzle and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sezzle	0	4	4	1	2.67
Sezzle Competitors	1974	6879	11623	443	2.50

Sezzle presently has a consensus target price of $145.67, indicating a potential upside of 13.52%. As a group, “Financial Services” companies have a potential downside of 3.84%. Given Sezzle’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Sezzle is more favorable than its competitors.

Summary

Sezzle beats its competitors on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

Sezzle Company Profile

Sezzle Inc. operates as a technology-enabled payments company primarily in the United States and Canada. The company provides payment solution in-store and at online retail stores; and through proprietary payments solution that connects consumers with merchants. It also offers Sezzle Platform that provides a payments solution for consumers that extends credit at the point-of-sale allowing consumers to purchase and receive the ordered merchandise at the time of sale while paying in installments over time; Pay-in-Four, which allows consumers to pay a fourth of the purchase price up front and then another fourth of the purchase price every two weeks thereafter over a total of six weeks; Pay-in-Full that allows consumers to pay for the full value of their order up-front through the Sezzle Platform without the extension of credit; and Pay-in-Two and other alternative installment options, which allow consumer to pay half of the value of their order up-front and the second half in two weeks. In addition, the company provides Sezzle Virtual Card that allows consumers to access the Sezzle Platform in the form of close-end installment loans and shop with merchants that are not integrated with Sezzle; Sezzle Anywhere, a paid subscription service that allows consumers to use their Sezzle Virtual Card at any merchant online or in-store; Sezzle Premium, a paid subscription service that allows its consumers to access large, non-integrated premium merchants; and Sezzle Up, an opt-in feature of the Sezzle Platform. Further, it offers Long-Term Lending through collaboration with third-party lenders and Product Innovation. Sezzle Inc. was incorporated in 2016 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.