Reviewing Mastercard (NYSE:MA) and Aiful (OTCMKTS:AIFLY)

Mastercard (NYSE:MA) and Aiful (OTCMKTS:AIFLY) are both financial services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.3% of Mastercard shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Mastercard shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Mastercard and Aiful’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mastercard	46.45%	179.78%	30.22%
Aiful	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Mastercard and Aiful’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mastercard	$26.39 billion	16.48	$11.20 billion	$12.58	37.18
Aiful	N/A	N/A	N/A	$19.42	0.06

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Mastercard and Aiful, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mastercard	0	3	20	4	3.04
Aiful	0	0	0	0	N/A

Mastercard currently has a consensus price target of $512.09, suggesting a potential upside of 9.48%. Given Mastercard’s higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Mastercard is more favorable than Aiful.

Summary

Mastercard beats Aiful on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mastercard

Mastercard Incorporated, a technology company, provides transaction processing and other payment-related products and services in the United States and internationally. The company offers integrated products and value-added services for account holders, merchants, financial institutions, digital partners, businesses, governments, and other organizations, such as programs that enable issuers to provide consumers with credits to defer payments; payment products and solutions that allow its customers to access funds in deposit and other accounts; prepaid programs services; and commercial credit, debit, and prepaid payment products and solutions. It also provides solutions that enable businesses or governments to make payments to businesses, including Virtual Card Number, which is generated dynamically from a physical card and leverages the credit limit of the funding account; a platform to optimize supplier payment enablement campaigns for financial institutions; and treasury intelligence platform that offers corporations with recommendations to enhance working capital performance and accelerate spend on cards. In addition, the company offers Mastercard Send, which partners with digital messaging and payment platforms to enable consumers to send money directly within applications to other consumers; and Mastercard Cross-Border Services enables a range of payment flows through a distribution network with a single point of access to send and receive money globally through various channels, including bank accounts, mobile wallets, cards, and cash payouts. Further, it provides cyber and intelligence solutions; insights and analytics, consulting, marketing, loyalty, processing, and payment gateway solutions for e-commerce merchants; and open banking and digital identity services. The company offers payment solutions and services under the MasterCard, Maestro, and Cirrus name. Mastercard Incorporated was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Purchase, New York.

About Aiful

Aiful Corporation engages in the consumer finance and credit guarantee business in Japan. The company offers unsecured and small business loans; and credit card, prepaid card, credit guarantee, debt collection, venture capital, receiving agent, corporate turnaround and restructuring, warehouse, document management, and leasing services, as well as used car and medical loans. It also provides postpay settlement, factoring, and installment credit sales services. The company was formerly known as Marutaka, Inc. and changed its name to Aiful Corporation in May 1982. Aiful Corporation was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Kyoto, Japan.