Should You Hold Global Payments Stock? Here's What's Working Right Now

Global Payments Inc. GPN is well-poised to grow on the back of the Worldpay acquisition, broad demand across merchant services, transaction volume growth and portfolio expansion. However, increasing competition in fintech and payment solutions, higher costs and rising debt remain a concern.Global Payments — with a market cap of $18.3 billion — is a payment solutions provider based in Atlanta, GA. The payments technology company has a massive network in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific. Courtesy of solid prospects, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock is worth holding on to at the moment.Estimates for GPNThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for Global Payments’ 2026 earnings is pegged at $13.86 per share, indicating a 13.4% year-over-year rise. The estimate jumped by 8 cents over the past week. Furthermore, the consensus mark for revenues is pegged at $12.46 billion for 2026, indicating a 33.8% year-over-year rise.The company beat earnings estimates in three of the past four quarters and met once, with an average surprise of 2.1%.Global Payments Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise Global Payments Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Global Payments Inc. QuoteGPN’s Growth DriversThe Worldpay deal made Global Payments a much bigger player, giving it more scale in merchant acquiring and access to a broader global customer base. More importantly, it opens the door for cross-selling, creating a clear path to faster revenue growth and stronger margins.Rising demand for unified POS and embedded payment solutions among SMBs is supporting upgrades across GPN’s large global merchant base, increasing recurring software-linked revenues and transaction volumes. High-impact partnerships remain a key growth lever. Collaborations with Alphabet, Mastercard, CaixaBank, Virgin Money and others enhance GPN’s digital-payments capabilities and broaden distribution.Global Payments returned significant capital to shareholders, repurchasing $1.6 billion of stock in 2024 and $1.2 billion in 2025. The company expects to return more than $2 billion through buybacks and dividends in 2026 and is targeting $7.5 billion in total shareholder returns over 2025-2027.Based on short-term price targets offered by 26 analysts, the Wall Street average price target for Global Payments is at $94.35 per share, suggesting a 40.8% upside from current levels.Key ConcernsThere are a few factors that investors should keep an eye on.Intensifying competition in the payments industry presents a challenge. Emerging fintech companies with strong growth potential are rapidly gaining market share, increasing the need for innovation and differentiation.Adjusted operating costs jumped 35% in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Adjusted EBITDA margin fell to 44.1% from 47.9% a year ago.Its long-term debt amounted to $21 billion at first-quarter 2026 end compared with $19.5 billion at 2025-end. Its long-term debt-to-capital of 46.4% is higher than the industry average of 38.5%.However, GPN’s strategic approach — focusing on partnerships, technology investments, and portfolio expansion — positions it for long-term success despite these headwinds.Better-Ranked PlayersSome better-ranked stocks in the broader Business Services space are Klarna Group plc KLAR, Paymentus Holdings, Inc. PAY and Remitly Global, Inc. RELY, each having a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Klarna’s current-year bottom-line indicates 84.8% year-over-year improvement. It has witnessed two upward estimate revisions over the past month, against no movement in the opposite direction. The consensus estimate for current-year revenues is pegged at $4.47 billion, implying 27.3% year-over-year growth.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Paymentus’ current-year earnings indicates a 19.7% year-over-year jump. It beat earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters, with an average surprise of 12%. PAY’s consensus estimate for current-year revenues implies 18.7% year-over-year growth.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Remitly Global’s current-year earnings indicates a 109.4% year-over-year surge. RELY beat earnings estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 347.2%. The consensus estimate for current-year revenues implies a 20% year-over-year increase.Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is HereThe AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.See Stocks Now >>This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks