Analyzing Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTCMKTS:REFG) and FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS)

FirstCash (NASDAQ:FCFS) and Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions (OTCMKTS:REFG) are both business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for FirstCash and Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
FirstCash	0	0	2	0	3.00
Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions	0	0	0	0	0.00

FirstCash presently has a consensus target price of $133.50, indicating a potential upside of 2.52%. Given FirstCash’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe FirstCash is more favorable than Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

80.3% of FirstCash shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of FirstCash shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares FirstCash and Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
FirstCash	8.61%	16.63%	7.70%
Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares FirstCash and Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
FirstCash	$3.39 billion	1.71	$258.82 million	$6.51	20.00
Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions	N/A	N/A	-$30,000.00	N/A	N/A

FirstCash has higher revenue and earnings than Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions.

Risk & Volatility

FirstCash has a beta of 0.62, suggesting that its stock price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions has a beta of -0.27, suggesting that its stock price is 127% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

FirstCash beats Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions on 11 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions

Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions, Inc. develops and markets a payment system for medical cannabis transactions. Its solution assists in the state tracking of sales, collection of tax, and supervision of sales to consumers. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. On August 12, 2024, Medical Cannabis Payment Solutions, Inc. filed a voluntary petition for liquidation under Chapter 7 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.