Flywire vs. dLocal: Which Payments Stock Is the Better Investment Now?

Recent results show healthy demand at both businesses, but quarterly growth alone does not settle the question. Investors must also consider competitive advantages, customer expansion, geographic exposure, execution risk, profitability and the price attached to each stock before deciding which opportunity looks stronger.

The Case for FLYW

Flywire’s strongest feature is its industry focus. Payments in education, healthcare, travel, and business services involve multiple currencies, regulatory requirements and complicated reconciliation. By combining payment processing with software, Flywire can solve operational problems that a basic checkout provider may not address. This makes the platform more useful and can raise switching costs for its clients.

The company has ways to deepen existing relationships. A university can begin with international tuition payments and later add domestic billing, payment plans, collections or scholarship disbursements. The Scholarship America partnership and Flywire’s work with Penn State show how the platform can move beyond one transaction type. Its Driftwood relationship points to a similar strategy in travel. 

Financial progress supports the broader case. First-quarter payment volume grew 36.5%, adjusted EBITDA increased sharply, and more than 200 clients were added. Those figures suggest that Flywire is winning business and gaining operating leverage. Still, acquisitions contributed to growth, and lower adjusted gross margin shows that expansion does not automatically produce better economics.

Flywire’s risks are concentrated. Education remains important, leaving the business sensitive to international student mobility, visa policies and university spending. Its move into several verticals creates opportunity, but it also requires careful execution across markets with varied customer needs.

Overall, Flywire has a credible niche and improving financial discipline. Compared with dLocal, however, its growth engine looks more dependent on vertical expansion, acquisitions and steady client adoption.

The Case for DLO

dLocal’s advantage comes from simplifying markets that are difficult for global merchants to enter. Instead of building separate connections to banks, wallets, card networks and regulators in each country, a merchant can use dLocal’s platform to accept payments, send payouts and manage local processing. Each additional market and payment method can make that network more useful.

dLocal’s advantage comes from simplifying markets that are difficult for global merchants to enter. Global companies want access to emerging markets, but local payment methods, currencies and regulations make expansion difficult. dLocal offers one connection supporting pay-ins and payouts across more than 60 countries. That reach can reduce the need to build separate infrastructure market by market.

Its model benefits from customer expansion. Once a major merchant connects to dLocal, it can add countries, payment methods and transaction types without replacing the core integration. First-quarter revenues from existing merchants rose 58%, while net revenue retention reached 152%. Those figures show clients are increasing their use of the platform. 

dLocal has a fast-moving payment network. Quarterly payment volume reached $14.1 billion and grew 73%, helped by strong local-to-local and cross-border activity. Scale can strengthen the platform by supporting licenses, banking relationships and merchant services. It may spread technology and compliance costs across a broader transaction base. 

However, emerging-market exposure also brings currency, regulatory, political and settlement risks for investors. Even with those risks, dLocal’s setup looks stronger. It combines wide geographic coverage, expanding customer relationships, profitable operations and exposure to markets where digital payments have room to grow. Compared with Flywire’s specialized approach, dLocal offers a broader runway and clearer evidence that its platform becomes more valuable as customers expand across more products, countries and regions over time.

How Do Estimates Compare for FLYW & DLO?

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Flywire’s 2026 and 2027 sales implies year-over-year growth of 22.41% and 15.66%, respectively. The consensus mark for 2026 and 2027 EPS suggests a year-over-year increase of 736.36% and 40.58%, respectively. Over the past 60 days, estimates for FLYW’s 2026 and 2027 EPS have remained unchanged.  

For Flywire:

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for dLocal’s 2026 and 2027 sales calls for year-over-year growth of 38.34% and 25.48%, respectively. The consensus estimate for 2026 EPS has been revised upward over the past week, while the same for 2027 has been kept unchanged. The figures suggest a year-over-year increase of 2.50% and 31.30%, respectively.

For DLocal:

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Price Performance and Valuation of FLYW & DLO

So far in the year, Flywire shares have rallied 16.9%, while dLocal shares have risen 3.2%. In comparison, the S&P 500 composite has advanced 6.7% in the same time frame.  

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

FLYW is trading at a forward price-to-sales of 2.54X, which is above its one-year median of 2.47X. 

Meanwhile, DLO is presently trading at a forward price-to-sales of 2.48X, which is below its one-year median of 2.87X and comparatively looks attractive.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Conclusion

Flywire remains a solid payments company with specialized software, improving profitability and opportunities to expand across several industries. Its platform can become deeply embedded in client workflows, but education exposure, acquisition effects and gross-margin pressure make the near-term risk-reward less compelling.

While dLocal carries its own risks, especially the complexity of emerging markets, its wider geographic reach, faster payment growth, strong customer expansion and profitable model create the better long-term setup. Investors choosing one of these stocks may find dLocal more attractive for fresh investments, while Flywire looks better suited to continued ownership and careful monitoring.

DLO has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), while FLYW carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is Here

The AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research