Acquirer/Processer Industry Loan Bright Spot In Down Week For Payments

Five acquirer/processor companies had strong showing on the stock market, but that’s just about the only positive news as the payments industry fell a total of -0.51 percent this week.

Fiserv Inc. was the biggest winner of the week, increasing 3.3 percent to $74.19 a share after pricing a public offering of $700 million senior notes on Tuesday. This continues a strong stretch for the financial servicer, as Fiserv has gained 5.41 percent over the past four weeks.

Two more acquirer/processors, Fidelity National Investment Services and Heartland Payment Systems, each saw a three percent gain to finish the week at $32.64 and $33.00, respectively.

Net1 UEPS Technologies had an up-and-down week but ultimately finished with a 2.3 percent gain to $9.56 a share, while Global Payments Inc. fluctuated similarly before finishing at $44.03 for a 1.5 percent gain.

ACI Worldwide was the only acquirer/processor in our index to have a poor week, losing five percent to drop to $43.08. Along with MICROS Systems Inc., ACI saw the biggest losses this week.

Remittance had the worst week as an industry, falling -1.94 percent thanks in large part to a four percent drop by MoneyGram international. After a strong performance a week ago, Western Union fell -1.8 percent to $18.67.

The four major networks had a mixed week, with MasterCard and Visa experiencing modest gains and Discover and American Express falling 1.8 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively. Overall, networks fell -0.77 percent on the week.