Payments Stocks, Including Green Dot And Planet Payment, Make Mixed Moves

Entering the last few weeks of the second quarter, payments stocks made a mixed showing last week, with everything from earnings to partnerships to, well, little news impacting stock movements.

Shares of Square were up 6 percent, with a little company news that might have, according to conventional wisdom, sparked that rise. Morgan Stanley did initiate the stock with an “equal weight rating” yesterday (June 12). And in news earlier this month, CEO and Chairman Jack Dorsey did sell $7 million in shares at the end of May. Beyond that, company-specific headlines have been a bit scarce for the name.

Off a relatively smaller base, Planet Payment stock also was up mid-single digits as a percentage on revenue guidance late last month. Management’s range for the top line is $60.1 million to $61.5 million brackets and gives an upper end above the consensus revenue estimate of $60.2 million.

Green Dot gained 5 percent on the news that it would be helping Apple with the tech giant’s P2P money transfer bid, and that transfer service is slated to run through Apple Messages, to be installed in the next generation of iOS operating system. Green Dot will be working with the Apple Pay Cash Card, a prepaid card.

Separately, and looking at declining stocks, Verifone was off nearly 8 percent for the week, as the company reported results that slightly edged the Street but also announced divestitures that seemed to make investors cautious. The company also stated in its news that it would be moving toward having only a minority stake in its Chinese operations, stating that obstacles remain in place in competing in that country as a publicly traded U.S. tech firm.

Ingenico slipped 6.5 percent, with scant headlines, although last week the company stated that it has, through its Ingenico ePayments Group, partnered with The Family, a pan-European platform for startups and entrepreneurs, according to company announcements.