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Euronet (EEFT) epay Boosts Europe Presence Via Alipay+ Combo

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Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (EEFT - Free Report) recently announced that the company has integrated Ant Group’s cross-border payments and marketing solutions suite Alipay+ with its epay unit. The move is targeted to support in-store payments at the Müller drugstore chain in Europe.

The move is expected to provide epay with access to Asia’s leading digital wallets network. It will also link more than 1 billion users of Alipay+ in the Asia Pacific with the Müller drugstore chain. Digital value-added services of epay and other popular payment methods will be accessible to Müller. The prudent move is likely to enhance the footprint of all the participating companies in the vast Asian market.

The integration of Alipay+ with EEFT’s epay segment is expected to boost efficiency, adaptability and the use of digital payment methods for merchants. It will help the merchants to connect with multiple digital wallets in Asia like PayPay, KakaoPay, Gcash and others. The epay is using KakaoPay at Müller, with other wallets soon to follow. Euronet expects the process, which began in Germany and Austria, to soon reach other European countries in the next few months.

In epay, some of the most significant product distribution expansions were enabled by mobile wallets. It launched the Microsoft XBOX Subscriptions service with Telefonica Spain and Microsoft Office 365 distribution through fnac.com France, in addition to enhancing other digital channel distributions.

The integration of Alipay+ will add to EEFT’s epay segment global capabilities. The unit contributed 33.7% to the company’s top line in 2021. The segment’s revenues improved 21% year over year last year, supported by higher transactions, expansion of digital media products and SaaS solutions. It is likely to continue performing well on the back of robust online and in-app sales of digital media products as well as the surging retail sales of the same product category. The segment is well poised for growth owing to increased transactions in Germany, Brazil and Asia.

Price Performance

Euronet shares have declined 12% in the past year against the 3.5% increase of the industry.

Zacks Investment Research
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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Euronet currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked players in the Finance space include Primis Financial Corp. (FRST - Free Report) , Burford Capital Limited (BUR - Free Report) and Axos Financial, Inc. (AX - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Based in McLean, VA, Primis Financial boasts an impressive earnings surprise history, with the average four-quarter surprise being 27.8%. Primis Financial’s 2022 earnings estimate of $1.06 per share has witnessed two upward revisions in the past 60 days compared with none in the opposite direction.

Burford Capital, headquartered in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, has witnessed one upward earnings estimate revision in the past 60 days against none in the opposite direction. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Burford Capital’s bottom line for the current year is pegged at 90 cents per share, indicating a 372.7% year-over-year rise.

Headquartered in Las Vegas, NV, Axos Financial beat earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters, with the average being 9.6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Axos Financial’s bottom line for the current year is pegged at $4 per share, indicating an 8.7% year-over-year rise.

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