Topic: How To Invest

Payment terminals are a big market. Could we have your opinion, please, on VeriFone? Our investment club has purchased some of it and would like to grow our holdings. Thank you.

Article Excerpt

VeriFone Systems Inc., $32.58, symbol PAY on New York (Shares outstanding: 114.3 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; www.verifone.com), designs and sells point-of-sale terminals and software for security and encryption. These systems process various payment types, including signature and PIN-based debit cards, credit cards and contactless payment systems. The company started up in 1981. It first sold shares to the public on May 4, 2005, for $10.00 each. VeriFone’s customers include banks, retailers and government agencies. It gets 65% of its revenue by selling hardware; the remaining 35% comes from software support, installation, maintenance and related services. In its fiscal second quarter, which ended April 30, 2015, the company’s revenue rose 5.1%, to $490.1 million from $466.4 million a year earlier. Without the effects of the higher U.S. dollar, revenue gained 14%. Before one-time items, earnings per share increased 18.9%, to $0.44 from $0.37. VeriFone spent a high 9.7% of its sales on research in the latest quarter. That investment, as well…