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Compelling Reasons to Retain Global Payments (GPN) Stock

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Global Payments Inc. (GPN - Free Report) benefits on the back of solid segmental contribution, higher transaction volumes, acquisitions and collaborations coupled with a strong financial position. 

Zacks Rank & Price Rally

Global Payments currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

The stock has gained 23% in the past year compared with the industry’s 18.5% growth. The Zacks Business Services sector and S&P 500 composite gained 21.5% and 25.3%, respectively, in the said time frame.

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Robust Growth Prospects

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for GPN’s 2024 earnings is pegged at $11.82 per share, suggesting 13.4% growth from the 2023 estimate. The consensus mark for revenues is $9.3 billion, which indicates a rise of 7% from the 2023 estimate.

Decent Earnings Surprise History

The bottom line of Global Payments outpaced estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 1.54%.

Business Tailwinds

Strong contributions from the Merchant Solutions and Issuer Solutions segments continue to drive revenue growth of Global Payments. Revenues in both segments improved 14.6% and 6.4%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis in the first nine months of 2023.

Merchant Solutions’ performance benefits on the back of higher transaction volumes, while the Issuer Solutions unit earns payment processing services revenues derived from GPN’s long-term processing contracts with financial institutions and other financial services providers.

Global Payments resorts to acquisitions, partnerships and joint ventures for enhancing capabilities, boosting business scale, expanding share across existing markets as well as stepping into new markets. The acquisition of the global payment technology integrations and acquiring solutions provider, EVO Payments, contributed to the 7.4% year-over-year overall revenue growth of Global Payments in the first nine months of 2023. Buyouts remain one of the management’s priorities to allocate capital.

The payments technology company continues to make several technology investments related to new product development and innovation as well as transition of specific underlying technology platforms to cloud environments. These initiatives are meant to upgrade the performance of the operating platforms, diversify its technology and cloud-based solutions suite, and drive cost efficiencies. Meanwhile, Global Payments will continue to benefit from the expense synergies stemming from the EVO acquisition.  To intensify focus on serving its core corporate customers, GPN resorts to divesting businesses and selling the consumer part of Netspend business was one such act.

Global Payments holds an impressive financial stand, substantiated by a strong cash balance and robust cash-generating abilities. It generated operating cash flows of $1.6 billion in the first nine months of 2023, which advanced 3.7% from the prior-year comparable period. The financial strength imparts GPN the power to pursue business investments and come up with enhanced technologies that position it ahead of industry peers.  Management also returns capital to shareholders via share repurchases and regular dividend payments.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks in the Business Services space are RCM Technologies, Inc. (RCMT - Free Report) , Clean Harbors, Inc. (CLH - Free Report) and Huron Consulting Group Inc. (HURN - Free Report) . While RCM Technologies currently sports  a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Clean Harbors and Huron Consulting carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

RCM Technologies’ earnings surpassed estimates in two of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark twice, the average surprise being 13.28%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RCMT’s 2024 earnings suggests an improvement of 17.5% from the 2023 estimate. The consensus mark for revenues indicates a 9% rise from the 2023 estimate. The consensus mark for RCMT’s 2024 earnings has moved 5.9% north in the past 30 days.

The bottom line of Clean Harbors beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 3.24%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CLH’s 2024 earnings implies an improvement of 13.7% from the 2023 estimate. The consensus mark for revenues suggests growth of 4.5% from the 2023 estimate. The consensus mark for CLH’s 2024 earnings has moved 0.3% north in the past 60 days.

Huron Consulting’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 25.69%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HURN's 2024 earnings suggests an improvement of 16.3% from the 2023 estimate. The consensus mark for revenues indicates a 9.3% rise from the 2023 estimate. The consensus mark for HURN’s 2024 earnings has moved 2% north in the past 30 days.

Shares of RCM Technologies, Clean Harbors and Huron Consulting have gained 142.7%, 47.7% and 48%, respectively, in the past year.

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