POS Providers Rebound As Payments Sees Small Stocks Gains

By PYMNTS | December 26, 2012

The payments industry saw positive results on the stock market in the week leading up to the holidays, seeing growth in five of six subsections and an overall gain of .37 percent.

Payments was buoyed in large part by the POS equipment/software industry, which, after a down performance the week before, saw a 2.87 percent jump. MICROS Systems led POS providers with a 6.93 percent gain after analysts at Needham & Company reaffirmed its buy rating. MICROS’ shares ended the week valued at $42.06. USA Technologies, NCR Corporation and Ingenico all saw significant gains this week as well, growing 4.16 percent, 3.50 percent and 2.85 percent, respectively.

VeriFone Systems was the lone POS equipment/software company to see a down week, finishing as the second-biggest overall loser in our index with a drop of -3.89 percent. The company ended the week at $28.68 a share as it continues to lose value in the wake of its decision to pull out of the mobile payments game and discontinue its SAIL offering.

Cardtronics was the biggest overall winner on the week, gaining 7.31 percent to $23.75. The company’s stock skyrocketed on Tuesday after its announcement that it would expand its ATM network in Canada.

The only payments industry subset that experienced setbacks this week was the acquirer/processor industry, which lost -0.48 percent of its value thanks to down weeks by Total Systems Services and Fidelity National Information Services, which dropped -1.32 percent and -1.67 percent, respectively. Heartland Payments had a strong week within the industry subset, gaining 3.89 percent to rise to $29.60 a share, but that wasn’t enough to overcome mild performances from ACI Worldwide, Global Payments Inc. and Fiserv.

Green Dot continued its roller coaster of a ride on the stock market by finishing last on our index, dropping -4.75 percent to $12.60.