The payments industry grew 0.89 percent this week thanks to strong performances by the remittance industry as well as modest growth across the board.
No company came close to challenging Online Resources Corp this week, as the ePayments servicer saw its stick nearly double, increasing 86.10 percent to $3.82 after news broke that the company was purchased by ACI Worldwide. The purchasing company’s stock, meanwhile, rose 2.24 percent to $47.90, seeing a significant jump after the news and continuing its climb until Friday’s close.
Net 1 UEPS Technologies was the second best performer on the week, jumping 9.57 percent to $5.84 per share. The stock was downgraded from a “D” to an “F” by Portfolio Grader, so perhaps some see this an as opportunity to buy low.
Green Dot experienced a turbulent week, jumping to $14.21 after its earning reports on Thursday, then falling to $13.36 amid mixed analyst reviews. The company finished at $13.60 at close on Friday, representing an overall growth of 3.19 percent.
The remittance industry had the strongest week of any subset of the larger payments industry, jumping 2.47 percent on the back of a 6.28 percent jump from Western Union. The company announced both that it was partnering with Advent Financial to make tax returns available on prepaid cards, and also that it was expanding its remittance service to Guatemala and Costa Rica. Western Union stock now sits at $14.38 per share. MoneyGram International saw a more modest gain of 0.22 percent, rising to $13.94.
MICROS System finished with the worst performance on the week, dropping -4.17 percent after earnings that missed analyst expectations by 0.04 cents per share. NetSpend Holdings Inc. and Total Systems Services rounded out the bottom three performers, dropping -3.14 percent and -2.27 percent to $10.81 and $15.15, respectively.
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