Payments Stocks Move On (Mostly) Scant News

A bit more balance showed through this past week in the PYMNTS Stock Index, as advancing issues and declining names seemed about evenly matched, at least in terms of mid-single-digit percentage swings.

The biggest gainer of the week was USA Technologies, which posted earnings results that showed momentum in the latest fiscal fourth quarter, with top line of just under $22 million beating The Street. The company said that it had seen momentum in its cashless and unattended retail solutions, with net additions to its subscriber base on the order of 28,000.

Planet Payment gained a bit more than 6 percent to finish the week, on seemingly no real news. PayPal followed behind that with a 4 percent gain, with some positive investor sentiment on the name in the wake of the payments platform gaining inroads into China with a relationship with UnionPay. Merchants in Europe will be able to accept payments across UnionPay via debit and credit transactions, with enablement via PayPal’s Braintree.

The declining stocks among the names that we track had lesser, but still significant, relative showings, with Blackhawk Network off 7.6 percent, though the company put out research earlier in the week that showed the use of eGifting (including prepaid cards and digital gift cards) is growing. Diebold, off more than 6 percent, has seen no company-specific news since announcing it has satisfied conditions for the closing of its merger with Wincor Nixdorf last month.