Sifting through countless of stocks in the Financial Services industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Shift4 Payments, Inc. or WEX Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.
Read on to learn how Shift4 Payments, Inc. and WEX Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.
About Shift4 Payments, Inc. and WEX Inc.
Shift4 Payments, Inc. engages in the provision of software and payment processing solutions in the United States and internationally. The company offers a payments platform, which provides omnichannel card acceptance; and processing solutions across multiple payment types, including credit, debit, contactless card, Europay, MasterCard and Visa, QR Pay, and mobile wallets, as well as alternative payment methods, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay, and WeChat Pay. It also provides technology solutions, such as SkyTab POS, which provides purpose-built POS workstations; SkyTab Mobile, which provides pay-at-the-table, order-at-the-table, delivery, customer feedback, and email marketing solutions; SkyTab Venue, which provides mobile ordering, countertop POS, self-service kiosk, and digital wallet solutions; Lighthouse, a cloud-based suite of business intelligence tools that includes customer engagement, social media management, online reputation management, scheduling and product pricing, extensive reporting, and analytics; The Giving Block, a cryptocurrency donation marketplace; Shift4Shop, an e-commerce platform that creates a web store and tools to manage product catalog, order fulfillment and inventory management, search engine optimization, and secure hosting; and Marketplace, which enables integrations into third-party applications, as well as loyalty and inventory management. In addition, the company offers merchant operations and support services, including underwriting, onboarding, and activation; training; risk management; and support services. Further, it provides software partner operations and support services, including software integrations and compliance management; partner support; and partner services. The company distributes its products through independent software vendors, internal sales and support networks, enterprises, and value-added resellers. Shift4 Payments, Inc. was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.
WEX Inc. operates a commerce platform in the United States and internationally. The Mobility segment offers fleet payment solutions, transaction processing, and information management services; and provides account activation and account retention services; authorization and billing inquiries, and account maintenance services; account management; credit and collections services; merchant services; analytics solutions; and ancillary services and offerings. This segment markets its products directly and indirectly to businesses and government agencies with fleets of commercial vehicles; and indirectly through co-branded and private label relationships. The Corporate Payments segment provides payment solutions, including embedded payments; and accounts payable automation and spend management solutions. This segment also markets its products directly and indirectly to customers in travel, fintech, insurance, consumer bill pay, and media verticals. The Benefits segment offers software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for consumer directed healthcare benefits and full-service benefit enrollment solutions. In addition, its SaaS platform includes embedded payment solutions and plan administration services for consumer-directed health benefits; COBRA accounts; and benefit enrollment and administration services. Further, it offers custodial and depository services for health savings accounts; and markets its products through third-party administrators, financial institutions, payroll providers, and health plans. WEX Inc. was formerly known as Wright Express Corporation and changed its name to WEX Inc. in October 2012. WEX Inc. was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Portland, Maine.
Latest Financial Services and Shift4 Payments, Inc., WEX Inc. Stock News
As of September 4, 2026, Shift4 Payments, Inc. had a $3.6 billion market capitalization, compared to the Financial Services median of $2.4 million. Shift4 Payments, Inc.’s stock is down 27% in 2026, up 4.5% in the previous five trading days and down 47.51% in the past year.
Currently, Shift4 Payments, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 73.6. Shift4 Payments, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $4.8 billion with a 2.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 34.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $5.217 per share for the current fiscal year. Shift4 Payments, Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.
As of September 4, 2026, WEX Inc. had a $6.6 billion market cap, putting it in the 71st percentile of all stocks. WEX Inc.’s stock is up 30.2% in 2026, down 1.7% in the previous five trading days and up 11.85% in the past year.
Currently, WEX Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 19.3. WEX Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.8 billion with a 12.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 14.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $20.027 per share for the current fiscal year. WEX Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.
How We Compare Shift4 Payments, Inc. and WEX Inc. Stock Grades
Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.
AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Shift4 Payments, Inc. and WEX Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.
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Shift4 Payments, Inc. and WEX Inc. Stock Value Grades
| Company | Ticker | Value |
| Shift4 Payments, Inc. | FOUR | D |
| WEX Inc. | WEX | D |
Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.
Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.
AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.
Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.
Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a Value Score of 35, which is Expensive.
WEX Inc. has a Value Score of 36, which is Expensive.
The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner
Neither Shift4 Payments, Inc. or WEX Inc. has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Shift4 Payments, Inc. or WEX Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.
Shift4 Payments, Inc. and WEX Inc. Growth Grades
| Company | Ticker | Growth |
| Shift4 Payments, Inc. | FOUR | B |
| WEX Inc. | WEX | C |
The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.
In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.
The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.
Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a Growth Score of 69, which is Strong.
WEX Inc. has a Growth Score of 59, which is Average.
The Growth Grade Winner: Shift4 Payments, Inc.
As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than WEX Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Shift4 Payments, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.
Shift4 Payments, Inc. and WEX Inc.’s Momentum Grades
| Company | Ticker | Momentum |
| Shift4 Payments, Inc. | FOUR | D |
| WEX Inc. | WEX | B |
Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.
Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.
Shift4 Payments, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 23, which is Weak.
WEX Inc. has a Momentum Score of 72, which is Strong.
The Momentum Grade Winner: WEX Inc.
As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, WEX Inc. is considered to have stronger momentum compared to Shift4 Payments, Inc.. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, WEX Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.
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Other Shift4 Payments, Inc. and WEX Inc. Grades
In addition to Growth, Momentum and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Estimate Revisions and Quality.
Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).
AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.
These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Shift4 Payments, Inc. and WEX Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.
So, Which Is the Better Investment, Shift4 Payments, Inc. or WEX Inc. Stock?
Overall, Shift4 Payments, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 35, Growth Score of 69 and Momentum Score of 23.
WEX Inc. stock has a Value Score of 36, Growth Score of 59 and Momentum Score of 72.
Comparing Shift4 Payments, Inc. and WEX Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.
Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.
A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.
AAII Disclaimer
We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.
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