Head-To-Head Survey: Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) & Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD)

Walker & Dunlop (NYSE:WD) and Euronet Worldwide (NASDAQ:EEFT) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Walker & Dunlop has a beta of 1.52, suggesting that its stock price is 52% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Euronet Worldwide has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Walker & Dunlop and Euronet Worldwide”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Walker & Dunlop	$1.23 billion	0.95	$57.08 million	$1.12	30.40
Euronet Worldwide	$4.24 billion	0.57	$309.50 million	$6.37	9.98

Euronet Worldwide has higher revenue and earnings than Walker & Dunlop. Euronet Worldwide is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Walker & Dunlop, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Walker & Dunlop and Euronet Worldwide’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Walker & Dunlop	2.94%	7.25%	2.31%
Euronet Worldwide	6.63%	28.60%	5.67%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Walker & Dunlop and Euronet Worldwide, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Walker & Dunlop	1	0	5	0	2.67
Euronet Worldwide	1	3	3	0	2.29

Walker & Dunlop presently has a consensus target price of $64.00, suggesting a potential upside of 87.99%. Euronet Worldwide has a consensus target price of $94.00, suggesting a potential upside of 47.83%. Given Walker & Dunlop’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Walker & Dunlop is more favorable than Euronet Worldwide.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

81.0% of Walker & Dunlop shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Euronet Worldwide shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of Walker & Dunlop shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.2% of Euronet Worldwide shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Euronet Worldwide beats Walker & Dunlop on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Walker & Dunlop

Walker & Dunlop, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in the provision of commercial real estate and finance services. It operates through the following segments: Capital Markets, Servicing and Asset Management, and Corporate. The Capital Markets segment offers a comprehensive range of commercial real estate finance products to customers. The Servicing and Asset Management segment includes servicing and asset-managing and managing third-party capital investments. The Corporate segment consists primarily of the company’s treasury operations and other corporate-level activities. The company was founded by Oliver Walker and Laird Dunlop in 1937 and is headquartered in Bethesda, MD.

About Euronet Worldwide

Euronet Worldwide, Inc. provides payment and transaction processing and distribution solutions to financial institutions, retailers, service providers, and individual consumers worldwide. It operates through three segments: Electronic Fund Transfer Processing, epay, and Money Transfer. The Electronic Fund Transfer Processing segment provides electronic payment solutions, including automated teller machine (ATM) cash withdrawal and deposit services, ATM network participation, outsourced ATM and point-of-sale (POS) management solutions, credit and debit and prepaid card outsourcing, card issuing, and merchant acquiring services. It also offers ATM and POS currency conversion, ATM surcharge, advertising, customer relationship management, mobile top-up, bill payment, fraud management, foreign remittance and cardless payout, banknote recycling, and tax-refund services; and integrated electronic financial transaction software solutions for electronic payment and transaction delivery systems. The epay segment distributes and processes prepaid mobile airtime and other electronic payment products; and provides payment processing services for various prepaid products, cards, and services, as well as vouchers and physical gift fulfillment, and gift card distribution and processing services. This segment operates a network of approximately 821,000 POS terminals. The Money Transfer segment offers consumer-to-consumer and account-to-account money transfer, customers bill payment, check cashing, foreign currency exchange, mobile top-up, and cash management and foreign currency risk management services, as well as payment alternatives, such as money orders and prepaid debit cards. The company was formerly known as Euronet Services, Inc. and changed its name to Euronet Worldwide, Inc. in August 2001. Euronet Worldwide, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Leawood, Kansas.