Cielo (OTCMKTS:CIOXY) and Research Solutions (NASDAQ:RSSS) Critical Survey

Cielo (OTCMKTS:CIOXY) and Research Solutions (NASDAQ:RSSS) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Cielo and Research Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cielo	0	1	0	0	2.00
Research Solutions	0	0	3	0	3.00

Research Solutions has a consensus target price of $5.12, suggesting a potential upside of 86.06%. Given Research Solutions’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Research Solutions is more favorable than Cielo.

Volatility and Risk

Cielo has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Research Solutions has a beta of 0.62, meaning that its share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Cielo and Research Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cielo	20.28%	14.58%	2.15%
Research Solutions	-1.39%	-5.58%	-1.88%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Cielo and Research Solutions’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cielo	$2.12 billion	1.31	$418.05 million	$0.16	6.44
Research Solutions	$37.70 million	2.35	$570,000.00	($0.03)	-91.67

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

Institutional and Insider Ownership

0.0% of Cielo shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 33.6% of Research Solutions shares are owned by institutional investors. 26.5% of Research Solutions shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Cielo beats Research Solutions on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cielo

Cielo S.A., through its subsidiaries, provides payment services in Brazil and the United States. The company provides services related to credit and debit cards, and other payment methods, including signing up of merchants and service providers; rental, installation, and maintenance of point-of-sale terminals; and data capture and processing of electronic and manual transactions, as well as the issuance and management of payment accounts. It also offers services related to the processing means of payments that involve cards, maintenance services, and contacts with merchants for acceptance of credit and debit cards; development and licensing of computer software; electronic transactions processing; and technology services for collection and management of accounts payable and receivable using the Internet. The company was formerly known as Companhia Brasileira de Meios de Pagamento and changed its name to Cielo S.A. in December 2009. Cielo S.A. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Barueri, Brazil.

About Research Solutions

Research Solutions, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based software-as-a-service research platform. The company is also involved in the transactional sale of published scientific, technical, and medical (STM) content managed, sourced, and delivered through the Transactions platform. Its solutions enable life science and other research intensive organizations to accelerate their research and development activities with access and management STM articles used throughout the intellectual property development lifecycle. The company was formerly known as Derycz Scientific, Inc. and changed its name to Research Solutions, Inc. in March 2013. Research Solutions, Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is based in Henderson, Nevada.