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Topic: Growth Stocks

ACI WORLDWIDE $19.49 – Nasdaq symbol ACIW

ACI WORLDWIDE $19.49 (Nasdaq symbol ACIW; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (402-334-5101; www.tsainc.com; Shares outstanding: 114.9 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; No dividends paid) makes software for processing transactions involving credit cards, debit cards, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and interbank payments. The company’s products also help cut fraud.

In the quarter ended September 30, 2014, ACI’s revenue rose 16.7%, to $249.6 million from $213.9 million a year earlier, mainly due to contributions from acquisitions. Earnings per share rose 5.9%, to $0.18 from $0.17.

The company has purchased a number of other firms recently. In November 2013, it paid $109 million for Official Payments Holdings, which processes about 20 million payments totalling over $9 billion annually. ACI also bought Retail Decisions (ReD) in August 2014 for $205 million. ReD is an e-commerce and fraud-prevention firm whose software serves the payments industry.

ACI’s long-term debt of $862.9 million is a reasonable 39% of its market cap. But its goodwill and intangible assets now stand at $1.1 billion, or a high 50% of its market cap.

The company’s outlook is positive, but the stock trades at a high 26.0 times ACI’s forecast 2015 earnings of $0.75 a share. Any problems integrating its acquisitions could reduce that estimate significantly.

ACI Worldwide is a hold.

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