Contrasting FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) and International Money Express (NASDAQ:IMXI)

International Money Express (NASDAQ:IMXI) and FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for International Money Express and FirstCash, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
International Money Express	1	5	1	0	2.00
FirstCash	0	2	5	1	2.88

International Money Express presently has a consensus price target of $14.33, indicating a potential downside of 7.53%. FirstCash has a consensus price target of $167.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.19%. Given FirstCash’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe FirstCash is more favorable than International Money Express.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares International Money Express and FirstCash”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
International Money Express	$625.12 million	0.74	$58.82 million	$1.28	12.11
FirstCash	$3.49 billion	2.14	$258.82 million	$6.93	24.39

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

Volatility & Risk

International Money Express has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its share price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, FirstCash has a beta of 0.52, indicating that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

86.7% of International Money Express shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.3% of FirstCash shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.1% of International Money Express shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.9% of FirstCash shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares International Money Express and FirstCash’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
International Money Express	6.26%	35.45%	10.29%
FirstCash	8.88%	17.44%	7.92%

Summary

FirstCash beats International Money Express on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About International Money Express

International Money Express, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an omnichannel money remittance services company in the United States, Latin America, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. The company offers remittance services, which include a suite of ancillary financial processing solutions and payment services; and online payment options, pre-paid debit cards, and direct deposit payroll cards. It provides services through sending and paying agents and company-operated stores, as well as through online and Internet-enabled mobile devices. International Money Express, Inc. is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

About FirstCash

FirstCash Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates retail pawn stores in the United States, Mexico, and rest of Latin America. The company operates in three segments: U.S. Pawn, Latin America Pawn, and Retail POS Payment Solutions segments. Its pawn stores lend money on the collateral of pledged personal property, including jewelry, electronics, tools, appliances, sporting goods, and musical instruments; and retails merchandise acquired through collateral forfeitures on forfeited pawn loans and over-the-counter purchases of merchandise directly from customers. The company also provides retail POS payment solutions, which focuses on LTO products and facilitating other retail financing payment options across the network of traditional and e-commerce merchant partners. It serves cash and credit-constrained consumers. The company was formerly known as FirstCash, Inc and changed its name to FirstCash Holdings, Inc. in December 2021. FirstCash Holdings, Inc was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.