ACI adds key Mideast client

Article Excerpt

ACI WORLDWIDE $20.04 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (402- 390-7600; www.aciworldwide.com; Shares outstanding: 117.2 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; No dividends paid) continues to sign contracts with a wide range of clients. They now include HyperPay, a fastgrowing provider of payment services in the Middle East and North Africa. HyperPay will use ACI’s UP eCommerce Payments system, and its ACE Red Shield fraud prevention software, for its rapidly growing business. Its customers include over 350 banks and merchants in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. The 50 largest merchants in the Middle East are among those clients. The global shift toward increasingly complex payments is a plus for ACI. However, it trades at a high 37.1 times its forecast 2016 earnings of $0.54 a share. ACI Worldwide is a hold. hold…