NextPlay Technologies (NASDAQ:NXTP) versus Cass Information Systems (NASDAQ:CASS) Critical Analysis

NextPlay Technologies (NASDAQ:NXTP) and Cass Information Systems (NASDAQ:CASS) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and dividends.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares NextPlay Technologies and Cass Information Systems’ revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
NextPlay Technologies	$8.20 million	0.00	-$37.97 million	N/A	N/A
Cass Information Systems	$197.51 million	2.98	$30.06 million	$2.19	19.72

Cass Information Systems has higher revenue and earnings than NextPlay Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares NextPlay Technologies and Cass Information Systems’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
NextPlay Technologies	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cass Information Systems	15.21%	13.86%	1.21%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

3.0% of NextPlay Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.1% of Cass Information Systems shares are held by institutional investors. 24.5% of NextPlay Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.8% of Cass Information Systems shares are held 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.

Volatility and Risk

NextPlay Technologies has a beta of 2.41, indicating that its share price is 141% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cass Information Systems has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for NextPlay Technologies and Cass Information Systems, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
NextPlay Technologies	0	0	0	0	N/A
Cass Information Systems	0	0	1	0	3.00

Cass Information Systems has a consensus price target of $51.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.08%. Given Cass Information Systems’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cass Information Systems is more favorable than NextPlay Technologies.

Summary

Cass Information Systems beats NextPlay Technologies on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About NextPlay Technologies

NextPlay Technologies, Inc., a technology solutions company, provides games, in-game advertising, digital asset products and services, connected TV, and travel booking services to consumers and corporations in the United States, Puerto Rico, Europe, and Thailand. The company operates through three segments: Media, FinTech, and Travel. The Media segment provides HotPlay games studio, a game development studio that develops a range of casual games; HotPlay redemption mobile application, a digital wallet that is used to collect the HotPlay IGA rewards; HotPlay In game advertising and rewards platform, that enable advertisements and rewards to be inserted in game; goPlay platform, a gamification platform for users to compete against each other through tournaments and challenges, as well as a reward platform that rewards users for their continued loyalty and continuous game; and Zappware, a TV as a Service platform, which includes media source ingest, encoding and transcoding, packaging, protection, delivery, playback, and analytics that provide telco operators for their digital media processing, as well as a client side set top box and smart TV middleware platform, associated application framework and corresponding, and supporting content management system. The FinTech segment engages in the development of NextFinTech Platform, an integrated digital financial platform, which offers mobile banking, investments into alternative assets, and insurance to businesses and individuals. The Travel segment offers booking solutions for business and leisure; and travel technology solutions comprising alternative lodging rental properties under NextTrip ConNextions brand. The company was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Sunrise, Florida.

About Cass Information Systems

Cass Information Systems, Inc. provides payment and information processing services to manufacturing, distribution, and retail enterprises in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Information Services and Banking Services. Its services include freight invoice rating, payment processing, auditing, and the generation of accounting and transportation information. The company also processes and pays facility-related invoices, such as electricity, gas, waste, and telecommunications expenses; and provides telecom expense management solutions, as well as church management software solution and on-line platform to provide generosity services for faith-based and non-profit organizations. In addition, the company, through its banking subsidiary, Cass Commercial Bank, provides a range of banking products and services, such as demand, savings, time, and money market deposits; commercial, industrial, commercial real estate, and construction and land development loans; and cash management services to privately held businesses, restaurant franchises, and faith-related ministries. Further, it provides B2B payment platform for clients that require an agile fintech partner. It operates through its banking facility near downtown St. Louis, Missouri; operating branch in the Bridgeton, Missouri; and leased facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The company was formerly known as Cass Commercial Corporation and changed its name to Cass Information Systems, Inc. in January 2001. Cass Information Systems, Inc. was founded in 1906 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.