V

A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Fidelity National Information Services (FIS). Shares have lost about 2.3% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500. But investors have to be wondering, will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Fidelity National due for a breakout? Well, first let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent drivers for Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late. FIS Beats Q2 Earnings on Banking Solutions Strength, Cuts 2026 Outlook Fidelity National reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.48, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.7%. The bottom line advanced 8.8% year over year. Revenues amounted to $3.4 billion, which improved 29% year over year. The top line missed the consensus mark by 0.2%. The quarterly earnings were driven by strong growth in the Banking Solutions segment and steady performance in the Capital Market Solutions segment, supported by recurring revenue growth, margin expansion and acquisition benefits. However, the upside was partly offset by a higher cost of revenues and increased selling, general and administrative expenses. The cost of revenues increased 32.4% year over year to $2.2 billion in the second quarter. SG&A expenses of $684 million rose 19.6% year over year. Net interest expenses of $200 million increased 81.8% from the prior-year quarter’s figure. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.4 billion, up 35% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased 193 basis points year over year to 41.7%, primarily driven by acquisitions, a favorable business mix and cost savings initiatives. Revenues from the Banking Solutions segment totaled $2.5 billion, increasing 44% year over year and matching the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The segmental results benefited from solid margin expansion. Adjusted EBITDA margin improved 179 bps year over year to 45.8%, supported by cost management and a favorable revenue mix. The Capital Market Solutions segment’s revenues advanced 3.5% year over year to $810 million, marginally missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.2%. Strong recurring revenue growth benefited the metric. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 51.9% contracted 32 bps year over year. The Corporate and Other segment recorded revenues of $84 million, down 26% year over year. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $147 million. Fidelity National exited the second quarter of 2026 with cash and cash equivalents of $744 million, up from $599 million as of 2025-end. Total assets of $44.1 billion increased from $33.5 billion at the end of 2025. Long-term debt, excluding the current portion, amounted to $15.4 billion, up from $9.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025. The current portion of long-term debt totaled $1.5 billion. Short-term borrowings totaled $4.2 billion at the end of the reported quarter. Total equity of $16 billion increased from $13.9 billion at 2025-end. Fidelity National generated $493 million in net cash from operations, representing a 29.1% year-over-year increase. Adjusted free cash flow totaled $525 million, up 220% year over year. The company returned $270 million to shareholders, including $42 million through share repurchases and $228 million in dividend payments. Management forecasts revenues between $3.415 billion and $3.445 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be in the range of $1,460-$1,480 million. Adjusted EPS is estimated to be between $1.58 and $1.62. Revenues are now expected to be $13.63-$13.70 billion, down from the prior guidance of $13.77-$13.85 billion, implying 29-30% adjusted revenue growth. Adjusted EBITDA is projected to be $5.73-$5.79 billion compared to the earlier outlook of $5.80-$5.86 billion. Adjusted EBITDA margin is anticipated to be in the range of 41.8-42.4% (previously 42.1-42.3%). Adjusted EPS is forecast in the range of $6.15-$6.24, lowered from the prior guidance of $6.22-$6.32. The midpoint implies about 7.7% year-over-year growth from $5.75 reported in 2025. Free cash flow guidance has been raised to $2.15-$2.25 billion from the previous $2.05-$2.15 billion. The company now expects free cash flow growth of 33-39% year over year. In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in estimates review. Currently, Fidelity National has a subpar Growth Score of D, though it is lagging a bit on the Momentum Score front with an F. However, the stock was allocated a grade of A on the value side, putting it in the top quintile for this investment strategy. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of C. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. It's no surprise Fidelity National has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). We expect a below average return from the stock in the next few months. Fidelity National belongs to the Zacks Financial Transaction Services industry. Another stock from the same industry, Visa (V), has gained 2.7% over the past month. More than a month has passed since the company reported results for the quarter ended June 2026. Visa reported revenues of $11.63 billion in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +14.4%. EPS of $3.32 for the same period compares with $2.98 a year ago. Visa is expected to post earnings of $3.43 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +15.1%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has changed +0.1%. The overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions translate into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Visa. Also, the stock has a VGM Score of F. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS) : Free Stock Analysis Report Visa Inc. (V) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Affirm Holdings, Inc. AFRM posted fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings of $4.62 per share. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 33 cents by 1,300%. The metric rose from 20 cents a year ago. Revenues of $1.17 billion rose 33.0% year over year and surpassed the consensus mark of $1.11 billion by 5.4%. AFRM’s strong quarterly results were driven by robust Gross Merchandise Volume (“GMV”) growth, higher transactions, strong repeat customer engagement and increased interest income. Rapid growth in Affirm Card adoption and merchant activity also supported the performance. However, elevated operating expenses and higher provision for credit losses partly offset the gains. The bottom line also benefited significantly from a $1.45 billion income tax benefit related to the release of a valuation allowance on domestic deferred tax assets. Affirm Holdings, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Affirm Holdings, Inc. Quote As of June 30, 2026, AFRM’s active merchants totaled 570,800, up 50% year over year. GMV increased 36% year over year to $14.1 billion. The figure also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $13.4 billion. The metric gained from strong contributions from direct merchant point-of-sale integrations, wallet partnerships and direct-to-consumer offerings. Total transactions rallied 41.1% year over year to 52.9 million on the back of a significant surge in repeat customer transactions. The metric beat the consensus mark of 47.4 million. Active cardholders more than doubled to 5.2 million, lifting the card attach rate to about 19%. Servicing income of $46.1 million advanced 36% year over year and beat the consensus mark of $45.4 million. Interest income rose 35% year over year to $567.3 million and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $542.3 million. Merchant network revenues improved 26.3% year over year to $302.4 million but missed the consensus mark of $306.1 million. The metric gained from growing GMV. Card network revenues amounted to $85.2 million, up 26.9% year over year, attributable to higher usage of Affirm Card and Affirm virtual cards. The metric beat the consensus mark of $75.9 million. Operating expenses increased 24.5% year over year to $1.02 billion. Provision for credit losses climbed 42.5% to $223.2 million, while technology and data analytics expenses rose 31% to $202.6 million. Higher infrastructure costs and amortization of internally developed software contributed to the increase in technology and data analytics expenses. Operating income improved to $147.3 million from $58.1 million, with operating margin expanding to 12.6% from 6.6%. Adjusted operating income increased 49% to $353.4 million, and adjusted operating margin improved to 30.3% from 27.0%. Affirm exited the fiscal fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $1.6 billion, which increased from $1.4 billion as of fiscal 2025-end. Total assets of $15.8 billion rose from the fiscal 2025-end level of $11.2 billion. Funding debt totaled $3.3 billion compared with $1.6 billion at the end of fiscal 2025. Total stockholders’ equity was $5.5 billion, up from $3.1 billion at the end of fiscal 2025. AFRM generated $1.2 billion in net cash from operations for the 12 months ended June 30, 2026, compared with $793.9 million for the 12 months ended June 30, 2025. AFRM reported 2026 operating revenues of $4.3 billion, up from $3.2 billion a year ago. Full-year adjusted net income was $5.53 per share, up from 15 cents a year ago. For the first quarter of fiscal 2027, AFRM expects GMV of $13.7-$14.0 billion and revenues of $1.19-$1.22 billion. The company projects revenue less transaction costs of $575-$590 million, an adjusted operating margin of 28.0-30.0% and a GAAP operating margin of 11.5-13.5%. For fiscal 2027, management expects GMV of more than $64 billion. The company expects revenues to remain near 8.49% of GMV, the fiscal 2026 level. Adjusted and GAAP operating margins are projected to exceed 30.5% and 14.5%, respectively. Affirm Holdings currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Other payment space players like Mastercard Incorporated MA, Visa Inc. V) and American Express AXP have also reported their quarterly numbers. Here’s how they have performed: Mastercard reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted EPS of $5.04, which topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.7%. The bottom line improved 21.4% year over year. Net revenues advanced 14.1% year over year to $9.3 billion. The top line beat the consensus mark by 2.4%. Mastercard’s quarterly results benefited from strong cross-border volume growth, increased switched transactions and robust demand for value-added services. The upside was partly offset by higher payment network rebates from renewed deals and an escalating operating expense level. Visa delivered third-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.32 per share, which rose 11% year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.8%. Net revenues were $11.63 billion, rising 14% year over year. Visa’s quarterly results reflected resilient spending trends, higher cross-border volumes and solid network activity, including a 10% year-over-year increase in payments volume on a constant-dollar basis. The upside was partly offset by increased operating expenses. American Express reported second-quarter 2026 earnings per share of $4.53, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.7%. The bottom line advanced 11% year over year. Total revenues, net of interest expense, improved 10% year over year to $19.6 billion. AXP’s quarterly results were driven by increased Card Member spending, higher net interest income and improved card fee growth. However, the upside was partly offset by elevated operating expenses. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Affirm Holdings, Inc. (AFRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Mastercard Incorporated (MA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Visa Inc. (V) : Free Stock Analysis Report American Express Company (AXP) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

On August 21, 2026, Bloomberg reported that Hims & Hers Health, Inc. (NYSE:HIMS) was enrolled in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)'s Acquirer Monitoring Program after customer credit card disputes in its weight-loss subscription business exceeded acceptable levels in July. Each dispute carries an $8 surcharge, resulting in a bill of nearly $75,000 due in September, and Hims must get its dispute rate below Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)'s 1.5% threshold for three consecutive months to exit the program. A Hims spokesperson said the company has seen "a relatively small number of disputed charges" and has taken steps to address the issue. The news follows an FTC action from late July alleging deceptive billing and cancellation practices, which Hims has said it will "vigorously defend" against. Shares fell as much as 9.5% on the news. Hims & Hers Health, Inc. (NYSE:HIMS) itself characterizes the scale of the problem as small relative to its overall business. The company told Bloomberg the disputed charges represent a relatively small number of transactions, and the roughly $75,000 September surcharge bill is immaterial next to Hims' overall revenue. It is a financial cost investors can weigh directly rather than an open-ended liability. Weight-loss demand continues to drive strong growth. Despite profitability issues in its weight-loss segment, Hims keeps gaining customers at a rapid pace. In the second quarter, subscriber numbers grew 19% to 2.89 million, while average monthly spending per subscriber jumped 21% to $92, pushing total revenue up 38% to $753.2 million. This proves a key point for investors: billing disputes have not killed actual customer demand. Hims has a recent, credible track record of resolving exactly this kind of billing and regulatory friction. Six months earlier, Hims resolved a legal dispute with Novo Nordisk over compounded GLP-1 drugs by striking a partnership that let it sell FDA-approved Ozempic and Wegovy directly, a deal that sent shares up 41.7% at the time, evidence management can convert regulatory pressure into a resolved, even positive, outcome. Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) placed Hims & Hers Health, Inc. (NYSE:HIMS) in its monitoring program after customer dispute rates for its weight-loss subscriptions rose too high. Hims must keep its dispute rate below 1.5% for three straight months to escape the program. This penalty hits right as the FTC and state regulators sue Hims over tricky billing and hard-to-cancel subscriptions, charges Hims denies. If forced to make subscriptions easier to cancel, Hims will lose customers, lower retention, and shrink its subscriber revenue. Revenue growth is wiping out company profits. Hims swung from a $43.5 million profit to a $127.9 million second-quarter loss, even though revenue grew 38%. Operating expenses jumped 48%. Reuters also reported that gross profit margins fell for the fourth straight quarter as Hims pours money into branded GLP-1 drugs and international expansion. Regulatory and legal risks keep piling up since the Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) dispute is not happening in a vacuum. Hims faces growing regulatory pressure over compounded GLP-1 drugs, its switch to branded medications, and a new FTC lawsuit alleging privacy, billing, and cancellation violations. Barron's also underlined the FTC lawsuit, litigation reserves, and shrinking profits as growing investor concerns. These legal troubles drive up compliance costs and create real uncertainty around Hims' primary growth engine. Hims & Hers Health, Inc. (NYSE:HIMS) still powers a strong growth story with rapidly growing subscriber numbers, higher spending per customer, and a massive opportunity in weight-loss treatments. The Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) penalty itself costs very little money, and management has previously proven its ability to handle regulatory hurdles through its Novo Nordisk partnership. However, the credit card disputes add to growing concerns about Hims' billing practices, right as the company struggles to turn rapid sales growth into actual profits. A sharp quarterly loss, shrinking gross profit margins, and rising legal and regulatory risks put the focus squarely on whether Hims can sustain high-quality growth. While we acknowledge the potential of HIMS as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: Warren Buffett "Blew It" on Alphabet (GOOGL) And Made It Berkshire's Third-Biggest Bet and Sony Group (SONY) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) Are Betting $4.7 Billion on the "Eyes" of AI Machines. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.

A month has gone by since the last earnings report for Visa (V). Shares have added about 4.1% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500. Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Visa due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at the most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts. Visa Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates on Cross-Border Volume Strength Visa delivered third-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.32 per share, up 11% year over year and beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.8%. Net revenues came in at $11.63 billion, rising 14% year over year and topping the consensus mark by 2.3%. The strong quarterly results reflected resilient spending trends, higher cross-border volumes and solid network activity, including a 10% year-over-year increase in payments volume on a constant-dollar basis. However, the upside was partly offset by increased operating expenses. On a constant-dollar basis, cross-border volume increased 13% year over year, reflecting steady travel and e-commerce activity. Excluding transactions within Europe, cross-border volume rose 12% in constant dollars. Network throughput also improved. Total processed transactions were 71.7 billion for the June quarter, marking a 10% year-over-year increase. Adjusted operating expenses were $3.88 billion, up 17% year over year. It came a bit higher than our estimate of $3.83 billion. Higher personnel costs of $2.46 billion and marketing expenses of $649 million were notable contributors, alongside general and administrative expenses of $503 million. The litigation provision totaled $253 million in the quarter, down sharply from $615 million a year ago. Service revenues increased 14% year over year to $4.92 billion and beat our model estimate of $4.89 billion, supported by expanding payment volumes. Data processing revenues climbed 17% to $6.04 billion and surpassed our estimate of $5.94 billion, pointing to healthy growth in transactions processed across Visa’s network. International transaction revenues rose 6% to $3.85 billion and beat our model estimate of $3.83 billion, while other revenues advanced 45% to $1.50 billion, topping our estimate of $1.21 billion. Offsetting a portion of these gains, client incentives, recorded as a contra-revenue item, increased 18% to $4.68 billion. It came in higher than our estimate of $4.51 billion. Visa continued to emphasize shareholder returns. During the quarter, the company repurchased $4.9 billion of Class A shares and paid $1.3 billion in dividends, totaling $6.2 billion returned to its shareholders. The company had leftover authorized funds of $28.4 billion under its repurchase program as of June 30, 2026. Cash generation remained solid. Free cash flow was $6.1 billion in the quarter, after $417 million of capital expenditures. Visa ended June 30, 2026, with $13.9 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investment securities. Its long-term debt amounted to $20.9 billion, up from $19.6 billion at fiscal 2025-end. Current maturities of debt were at $3 billion. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, Visa expects adjusted net revenue growth in the low-double-digit to low-teens range and operating expense growth in the high-end of low-double-digit while projecting adjusted earnings per share growth in the mid-teens range. For fiscal 2026, the company now anticipates adjusted net revenue growth in the low-end of the mid-teens range and operating expense growth in the mid-teens range. Adjusted earnings per share are still expected to grow in the mid-teens. In the past month, investors have witnessed a downward trend in estimates review. At this time, Visa has a subpar Growth Score of D, though it is lagging a bit on the Momentum Score front with an F. Charting a somewhat similar path, the stock was allocated a score of D on the value side, putting it in the bottom 40% for this investment strategy. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of F. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. Interestingly, Visa has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Visa Inc. (V) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Leading buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution provider Affirm Holdings, Inc. AFRM is set to report its fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Aug. 27, 2026, after the closing bell. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the to-be-reported quarter’s bottom line is currently pegged at earnings of 33 cents per share on revenues of $1.11 billion. The fiscal fourth-quarter earnings estimate has witnessed two downward revisions over the past 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. However, the bottom-line projection indicates a year-over-year jump of 65%. Also, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for quarterly revenues suggests year-over-year growth of 26.4%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research For full-year fiscal 2026, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Affirm’s revenues is pegged at $4.21 billion, implying a rise of 30.5% year over year. The consensus mark for the current fiscal year’s EPS is pegged at $1.24, implying a massive improvement from 15 cents a year ago. Affirm beat the consensus estimate for earnings in each of the last four quarters, with the average surprise being 74.9%. Affirm Holdings, Inc. price-eps-surprise | Affirm Holdings, Inc. Quote However, our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for the company this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. That’s not the case here. AFRM currently has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Merchant network revenues are likely to have benefited from an expanding Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV). The active merchants figure is expected to have witnessed a significant boost in the fiscal fourth quarter due to the company’s ability to strike deals with different businesses. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for merchant network revenues is pegged at $306.1 million, indicating a 27.8% rise from the prior-year quarter’s figure. The consensus mark for GMV for the fiscal fourth quarter implies 29.3% growth from the prior-year quarter’s number. Management anticipates the metric to be in the range of $13.15-$13.45 billion. For full-year fiscal 2026, it expects GMV to reach $49.265-$49.565 billion. An increase in the number of transactions conducted through the Affirm platform is likely to have been supported by higher active merchants and consumers. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for active consumers indicates 20.2% year-over-year growth. The consensus mark for transactions per active consumer suggests a 13.3% rise from the year-ago period. An increase in the usage of Affirm’s virtual cards is expected to have driven card network revenues. The consensus mark for card network revenues indicates a 13% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s number. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for interest income is pegged at $542.1 million, which implies a 29.4% year-over-year rise. The consensus mark for servicing income is pegged at $45.4 million, which indicates a 33.9% jump from the year-ago quarter. However, the quarterly results are likely to have witnessed higher transaction costs. Yet, the company expects the adjusted operating margin to be within 27.5-29.5%. Companies like American Express Company AXP, Synchrony Financial SYF and Visa Inc. V have already announced results for the June quarter. Here’s how they have performed: American Express reported second-quarter 2026 EPS of $4.53, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.7%. The bottom line advanced 11% year over year. The strong quarterly results were driven by increased Card Member spending, higher net interest income and improved card fee growth. However, the upside was partly offset by AXP’s elevated operating expenses. Synchrony Financial reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted EPS of $2.59, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 24.5%, and the bottom line increased 3.6% year over year. The quarterly results were driven by record purchase volume, accelerated growth in ending loan receivables despite elevated payment behavior, continued credit strength and an expansion in net interest margin. However, SYF’s higher operating expenses and an increase in the provision for credit losses partly offset these positives. Visa delivered third-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of $3.32 per share, up 11% year over year and beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.8%. The strong quarterly results reflected resilient spending trends, higher cross-border volumes and solid network activity, including a 10% year-over-year increase in payments volume on a constant-dollar basis. However, the upside was partly offset by Visa’s increased operating expenses. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Affirm Holdings, Inc. (AFRM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Visa Inc. (V) : Free Stock Analysis Report American Express Company (AXP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Synchrony Financial (SYF) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Interested in OBOOK Holdings Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. OwlTing is shifting toward commercializing OwlPay, its stablecoin-enabled cross-border settlement platform. The company has approximately 80 signed enterprise relationships, but many remain in sales, integration or onboarding rather than generating production volume. Management is targeting more than $1 billion in cumulative OwlPay payment volume in 2026, while emphasizing enterprise trade, treasury and liquidity-management flows. Visa Direct activity is expected to begin in the fourth quarter, with further expansion planned across Japan, Taiwan and other regional markets. First-half revenue was broadly flat at $3.87 million, while net loss widened to $18.82 million, partly due to $10.4 million in non-cash share-based compensation and $2.5 million in finance costs. The company ended June with $10.19 million in cash and cash equivalents and $1.67 million in restricted cash. OBOOK (NASDAQ:OWLS), which operates under the OwlTing Group brand, said its first-half 2026 results reflected a transition from building stablecoin-enabled payments infrastructure to commercializing its OwlPay cross-border settlement platform. Management said the company’s reported financial results for the first six months of the year were still largely driven by its historical Taiwan payment gateway, hospitality software and e-commerce businesses. Meanwhile, its stablecoin-enabled payment and settlement operations were in the early stages of moving enterprise customers from onboarding and integrations into live transaction processing. → Datavault AI Locks Down CyberCatch in $94M Security Rollup Founder and Chief Executive Officer Darren Wang said OwlTing entered the second half at “a very different stage of development” than the period reflected in the first-half financial statements. He said the company had spent several years developing regulatory, banking, compliance, liquidity, settlement and technology infrastructure intended to support global enterprise payments. Wang said OwlPay’s Harbor platform is evolving from a cross-border payments platform into a global enterprise settlement network. He pointed to growth in activity on the Circle Payments Network, or CPN, a settlement rail within Harbor’s broader multi-rail architecture. → Nasdaq’s 23-Hour Trading Push Could Turn Global Liquidity Into a Growth Engine According to Wang, CPN activity was in an early pilot phase at the beginning of 2026 but has increased as customers and payment flows moved into production. He also said transaction execution quality improved as the platform scaled, citing progress in compliance, validation, liquidity management and settlement operations. OwlTing has approximately 80 signed enterprise relationships, Wang said, with a broader commercial pipeline that includes payment providers, fintech firms, digital financial infrastructure companies, financial institutions and companies with cross-border treasury and settlement requirements. Many of those opportunities remain in sales, integration or onboarding stages and have not yet generated production volume. → Tesla's Cybercab Launch Could Reshape Margins for Uber and Lyft The company said it is emphasizing production conversion and wallet share rather than simply adding signed customers. Management is also focused on expanding the number of markets, corridors and use cases served by its infrastructure, as well as deepening banking, liquidity, routing and local-settlement capabilities in priority markets. Within completed CPN-settled volume, Wang said about 43% was connected to cross-border supply-chain and international-trade payments. Another 37% came from fintech institutions and digital-payment providers, including treasury liquidity management, regional settlement-account funding and cross-platform fund movements. Together, those categories accounted for nearly 80% of current CPN settled activity. Wang said the composition of activity indicates that the platform’s transaction flows are increasingly associated with enterprise trade, treasury and liquidity management rather than consumer cryptocurrency trading or short-term speculation. OwlTing said its Harbor platform is designed as a multi-provider, multi-rail system that combines stablecoin networks, direct banking rails, regional banking partners and other global payment networks. Wang described the strategy as owning infrastructure that creates differentiation while integrating partners that expand market reach. The company said its direct U.S. banking rails have historically processed more than $1.4 billion in cumulative transaction volume. Wang said that experience demonstrates OwlTing’s ability to operate direct financial infrastructure, beyond connecting third-party payment application programming interfaces. Management also discussed opportunities in Japan and Taiwan. In Japan, OwlTing said it has an established relationship with SBI and sees a potential long-term opportunity to connect Japanese fiat liquidity with global stablecoin rails, subject to commercial, technical and regulatory requirements. In Taiwan, Wang said the company sees potential to connect regulated digital money, local banking infrastructure, enterprise payment flows and global settlement networks as the market’s digital-asset and stablecoin regulatory framework develops. He stressed that OwlTing was not announcing the issuance or launch of a Taiwan stablecoin. OwlTing expects to begin seeing transaction activity through Visa Direct in the fourth quarter of 2026. The Visa Direct integration is intended to provide eligible users with an additional card-funding channel alongside bank-based payment options. Chief Financial Officer Winnie Lin reported first-half revenue of $3.87 million, compared with $3.84 million in the first half of 2025. Payment-services revenue was $2.11 million, down from $2.17 million a year earlier, while hospitality software revenue rose about 24% to $800,000 from $640,000. Reported gross margin was 6.4%, compared with 12.5% a year earlier, primarily due to share-based compensation recorded in cost of revenue. Adjusted gross profit, excluding share-based compensation, rose to about $590,000 from $480,000. Adjusted gross margin increased to 15.3% from 12.5%. Net loss was $18.82 million, compared with a $3.91 million loss in the prior-year period. Lin attributed the wider reported loss in part to approximately $10.4 million of non-cash share-based compensation and about $2.5 million in finance costs tied to a convertible note. She also noted that the prior-year period included roughly $2.5 million in net foreign-exchange gains that did not recur this year. Adjusted operating expenses, excluding share-based compensation, were $7.24 million, up 6.6% from $6.79 million a year earlier. Lin said the company’s normalized cash operating expense run rate is about $1 million per month, excluding share-based compensation, financing-related items and settlement liquidity requirements. OwlTing is targeting more than $1 billion in cumulative processed payment volume across its OwlPay operations during 2026. Management said this target is separate from the more than $1.4 billion historically processed through its U.S. direct banking rails. Lin said transaction volume and revenue may not rise at the same rate because economics can differ by payment rail, settlement model, customer profile and service mix. Still, the company expects stablecoin-based cross-border settlement to represent a higher-margin revenue mix over time as utilization rises and direct settlement capabilities deepen in selected markets. The company reiterated its long-term objectives of approximately $500 million in annual revenue from OwlPay and stablecoin-enabled payment services by 2030, along with a stablecoin-payment gross-margin target of roughly 65% to 70% at scale. Management said both figures are strategic long-term targets rather than near-term guidance. OwlTing reported operating cash outflow of $5.92 million in the first half and ended June with $10.19 million in cash and cash equivalents, plus $1.67 million in restricted cash. Our mission is to use blockchain technology to provide businesses with more reliable and transparent data management, to reinvent global flow of funds for businesses and consumers and to lead the digital transformation of business operations. We believe in the power of blockchain technology and have focused on leveraging it to optimize and in some cases transform the way enterprises operate. Established in 2010 in Taiwan, we operate as the OwlTing Group and have delivered solutions to various industries and are expanding actively into multiple markets including the United States, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as jurisdictions in South America and the EU. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "OBOOK Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

Make better investment decisions with Simply Wall St's easy, visual tools that give you a competitive edge. Visa stock has returned 59.2% over the past five years, yet valuation signals are split, with the Excess Returns intrinsic value estimate suggesting the shares trade below intrinsic value while earnings based multiples point to a richer price tag. That disconnect, set against a backdrop of regulatory scrutiny and new blockchain partnerships, is what investors now have to weigh. Over five years, Visa has delivered a 59.2% total return, which shows the stock has already rewarded long term holders. Visa's push into stablecoin based settlement and payouts can support expectations for future cash flows, while the ongoing Department of Justice antitrust case over its debit card market power may weigh on how investors price long term risk. On Simply Wall St's broader checks, Visa scores 2 out of 6 for value, which suggests the stock does not screen as a clear bargain overall even though the intrinsic value estimate points to about 13.5% upside. The issue now is whether Visa's current price of US$358.84 offers enough margin of safety, given that the Excess Returns model indicates undervaluation while the market multiples lean the other way. Visa delivered 5.5% returns over the last year. See how this stacks up to the rest of the Diversified Financial industry. The Excess Returns model evaluates how much profit Visa generates on its equity above the cost of that equity, then capitalises those surplus profits into an intrinsic value per share. For Visa, the model uses a Book Value of $18.87 per share and a Stable EPS of $16.04 per share, both grounded in analyst estimates of future returns on equity. Those inputs indicate an Average Return on Equity of 75.08% against a Cost of Equity of $1.58 per share, which translates into an Excess Return of $14.46 per share on a Stable Book Value of $21.36 per share. On this basis, the Excess Returns model suggests an intrinsic value of about $414.79 per share, compared with the current price of $358.84. The Department of Justice antitrust case over Visa's debit market power helps explain why the market price may sit below the level implied by these cash flow based economics. On this model, Visa stock currently appears undervalued relative to its estimated intrinsic value. Our Excess Returns analysis suggests Visa is undervalued by 13.5%. Track this in your watchlist or portfolio, or discover 53 more high quality undervalued stocks. Head to the Valuation section of our Company Report for more details on how we arrive at this Fair Value for Visa. The P/E ratio is a useful anchor for Visa because earnings are a key driver of how investors value an established payments network. Visa trades on a P/E of 29.4x, which is well above the Diversified Financial industry average of 17.9x and also below the peer group average of 49.8x for similar stocks. On Simply Wall St's fair multiple estimate, a P/E of about 22.6x would align better with Visa's size, margins and risk profile, so the current 29.4x carries a clear premium to that tailored benchmark. That pricing comes even as the Department of Justice antitrust case continues to add a layer of legal uncertainty to the story. On this P/E basis, Visa stock appears overvalued relative to what the fair multiple suggests. See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown. Simply Wall St Narratives pick up where this Visa valuation puzzle leaves off and spell out which assumptions about growth, margins and earnings would need to hold for the stock to be worth materially more or less than today's price on the Community page. Each Narrative presents Visa's implied fair value as a thesis about the business that you can revisit over time, rather than as a single static number. Community views on Visa are sharply split, with one camp focused on new payment rails and another fixated on what they see as a stretched entry price. Bull case: 13% undervalued Read the full Bull Case to see why Visa could be undervalued Bear case: 28% overvalued Read the full Bear Case to see why Visa could be overvalued Do you think there's more to the story for Visa? Head over to our Community to see what others are saying! For Visa, the Excess Returns intrinsic value estimate points to undervaluation, while the P/E based view flags the stock as overvalued relative to a tailored fair multiple. Broader checks remain weak, so that intrinsic value signal sits against a cautious overall valuation profile. The gap mainly reflects different lenses, with the intrinsic view anchored on long run cash generation and the multiple view tied to how much growth and sentiment the current P/E already assumes. The central question from here is whether Visa can sustain the cash flow strength implied by the intrinsic value estimate without legal and regulatory risks forcing a lasting rethink of what investors are willing to pay. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include V. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]

Interested in Pershing Square Inc.? Here are five stocks we like better. Pershing Square plans to grow through portfolio compounding and selectively launch new permanent-capital vehicles. Its first planned launch, Pershing Square Ventures, is targeted for late 2026 and may invest across private companies from earlier-stage businesses to firms nearing an IPO. PSUS is approximately 95% invested after raising $5 billion, with holdings including Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Alcon, Netflix, Visa and Mastercard. Pershing Square also plans to pursue investment-grade leverage equal to roughly 15%–20% of total assets. Pershing Square intends to address PSUS’s discount to NAV through expanded marketing, with NAV near $50 per share versus trading in the high-$30s. The company expects to return substantially all quarterly free cash flow through dividends, while continuing to develop Howard Hughes’ insurance business and evaluate SPARC opportunities. Refiner Stocks Are Near Record Highs—Can Iran-Driven Margins Keep Them There? Pershing Square (NYSE:PS) held its first earnings call as a public company, with Chairman and CEO Bill Ackman emphasizing the firm’s strategy of generating growth through the compounding value of its existing investment portfolios while selectively launching new vehicles. Ackman said the firm’s permanent-capital structure and portfolio of what he characterized as high-quality businesses could support growth even without additional fundraising. He said rising net asset values in the funds Pershing Square manages would increase management and performance fees over time, while cautioning that stock-price multiples can be volatile on a quarterly basis. → Lumentum Just Delivered the AI Growth Investors Wanted Marathon Petroleum Is Back, But Cycles Still Matter “If we never raise another investment vehicle,” Ackman said, Pershing Square expects the underlying companies in its portfolio to compound at a high rate over time. He added that the firm expects portfolio holdings to be volatile in the short term but believes they are attractively valued. Pershing Square’s first planned new fund launch will be Pershing Square Ventures, which Ackman said is targeted for the fall or end of 2026. The firm did not provide a targeted fundraising amount and said future launches would be episodic rather than tied to a set timetable. → Ryman Checks Into a $1.38B Hospitality Upgrade 3 Oil Refiners Built to Cash In on Higher Crack Spreads Ackman said the venture vehicle would invest across a broad range of private companies, from businesses valued in the several-hundred-million-dollar range to companies valued in the tens of billions of dollars. The strategy is expected to include both earlier-stage companies and businesses nearing public offerings. Unlike traditional venture funds, which often sell or distribute positions after portfolio companies go public, Ackman said Pershing Square Ventures would be structured as a permanent-capital vehicle that could remain invested through a company’s public-market life cycle. → Joby’s Defense Pivot Accelerates With $500M Resonant Sciences Deal He said the firm sees strategic value in venture investing beyond returns, including gaining insight into potential technological disruptions that could affect its core public-equity investments. Ackman also said Pershing Square plans to seed the vehicle with investments before raising capital from investors, though he said the firm was limited in what it could disclose until it files relevant documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ackman and Chief Investment Officer Ryan Israel said market volatility around Pershing Square’s U.S. vehicle, PSUS, created an attractive opportunity to deploy capital. Ackman said PSUS is approximately 95% invested after raising $5 billion in a volatile market environment. The executives cited investments including Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Alcon, Netflix, Intercontinental Exchange, Visa and Mastercard as securities that became available at what they viewed as substantial discounts. Israel said Pershing Square maintains a “library” of hundreds of companies that meet its investment standards and evaluates them based on price relative to long-term value. During periods of market volatility, he said, the firm can identify securities that have been sold off despite attractive longer-term prospects. Pershing Square also intends to add investment-grade leverage to PSUS. Ackman said the target capital structure is debt equal to roughly 15% to 20% of total assets, describing the approach as conservative compared with leverage typically used by hedge funds. The firm expects to begin discussions with rating agencies in early September and would pursue a debt offering after obtaining a rating. “If we had the incremental capital today, we have places to put it,” Ackman said. Ackman said Pershing Square is dissatisfied with PSUS’s trading price relative to its net asset value and plans to take steps to improve investor awareness and demand. He said NAV was approximately $50 per share, while PSUS had traded in the high-$30 range, which he attributed in part to the way shares were allocated during the initial public offering and an insufficient base of buyers in the secondary market. The firm plans a broader marketing effort aimed at financial advisors and other investors. Ackman said PSUS faces fewer restrictions on promotion than Pershing Square’s historical public vehicle and can be discussed more actively through media appearances, podcasts and other channels. He said Pershing Square expects future vehicles, including venture, crossover and asymmetric strategies, to be differentiated from portfolios investors could readily replicate in public markets. Israel said Pershing Square currently has no asymmetric hedge in place. The firm said it continuously evaluates potential “black swan” risks but only seeks hedges when they offer the potential for substantial returns, generally at least five to 10 times the amount invested. Ackman said the firm is not trying to hedge ordinary short-term market declines, but rather major developments such as a financial crisis, pandemic or sharp inflationary shock. On capital returns, Ackman said Pershing Square’s policy is to return substantially all quarterly free cash flow to shareholders through dividends. Israel said dividends are the most likely capital-return mechanism in the foreseeable future, though the company could act opportunistically as market conditions change. Ackman said share repurchases are not currently practical given the company’s cash-flow profile and the need for greater share trading volume. The executives also discussed Howard Hughes, where Pershing Square is pursuing a strategy to shift capital from real estate toward insurance through Vantage. Ackman said the company recruited Marc and David Gansberg to lead the insurance operation and is exploring ways to accelerate capital deployment into Vantage. Pershing Square expects to provide more insurance-style disclosures to help investors evaluate Vantage as it becomes a larger component of Howard Hughes. Ackman said the objective is to transform Howard Hughes into what he described as a “modern-day Berkshire Hathaway,” combining its real estate assets with an expanding insurance operation. Finally, Ackman said Pershing Square continues to evaluate opportunities for SPARC, its special purpose acquisition rights company. He said the structure is designed to provide private companies a route to public markets without founder shares, shareholder warrants or underwriting fees, while allowing Pershing Square funds to participate in transactions and associated warrant economics. No SPARC transaction has yet been completed. Pershing Square (NYSE: PS) is a publicly traded investment holding company managed by Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P., the investment firm founded and led by William "Bill" Ackman. The vehicle provides outside investors with exposure to the firm's concentrated, actively managed investment program and is designed to deliver long‑term capital appreciation through a portfolio of equity and related positions. The company's principal activities center on investing in publicly traded companies, typically through concentrated long equity positions and selectively using derivatives or other instruments for hedging or to implement investment views. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Pershing Square Q2 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

Quarterly earnings results are a good time to check in on a company’s progress, especially compared to its peers in the same sector. Today we are looking at Visa (NYSE:V) and the best and worst performers in the credit card industry. Credit card companies facilitate electronic payments and extend revolving credit to consumers. Growth comes from increasing digital payment adoption, cross-border transaction growth, and value-added services for cardholders and merchants. Challenges include regulatory scrutiny of fees and practices, competition from alternative payment methods, and potential credit losses during economic downturns. The 6 credit card stocks we track reported a strong Q2. As a group, revenues were in line with analysts’ consensus estimates. In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady as they are up 4.2% on average since the latest earnings results. Processing over 829 million transactions daily and connecting billions of cards to 150 million merchant locations worldwide, Visa (NYSE:V) operates one of the world's largest electronic payments networks, facilitating secure money movement across more than 200 countries through its VisaNet processing platform. Visa reported revenues of $11.63 billion, up 14.4% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 2.2%. Overall, it was a strong quarter for the company with a decent beat of analysts’ EBITDA and EPS estimates. The market was likely pricing in the results, and the stock is flat since reporting. It currently trades at $369.27. Read why we think that Visa is one of the best credit card stocks, our full report is free. Formerly known as Alliance Data Systems until its 2022 rebranding, Bread Financial (NYSE:BFH) provides credit cards, installment loans, and savings products to consumers while powering branded payment solutions for retailers and merchants. Bread Financial reported revenues of $993 million, up 6.9% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 3.5%. The business had an exceptional quarter with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and net interest income in line with analysts’ estimates. Bread Financial pulled off the biggest analyst estimate beat in the group. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 7.9% since reporting. It currently trades at $109.95. Is now the time to buy Bread Financial? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free. Recognizable by its iconic green logo and the slogan "Don't leave home without it," American Express (NYSE:AXP) is a global payments company that issues credit and charge cards, processes merchant transactions, and offers travel and lifestyle benefits to consumers and businesses. American Express reported revenues of $18.55 billion, up 12.8% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 5.8%. It was a softer quarter, leaving some shareholders looking for more. American Express delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates among its peers. The stock is flat since the results and currently trades at $343.29. Read our full analysis of American Express’s results here. Starting as a credit card company in 1988 before expanding into a full-service bank, Capital One (NYSE:COF) is a financial services company that offers credit cards, auto loans, banking services, and commercial lending to consumers and businesses. Capital One reported revenues of $15.83 billion, up 25.8% year on year. This number was in line with analysts’ expectations. Overall, it was a very strong quarter as it also produced a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates. Capital One delivered the fastest revenue growth of the whole group. The stock is up 7% since reporting and currently trades at $220.61. Read our full, actionable report on Capital One here, it’s free. Powering over 73 million active accounts and partnerships with major brands like Amazon, PayPal, and Lowe's, Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF) provides credit cards, installment loans, and banking products through partnerships with retailers, healthcare providers, and digital platforms. Synchrony Financial reported revenues of $3.72 billion, up 1.9% year on year. This result came in 0.7% below analysts’ expectations. In spite of that, it was a very strong quarter as it produced a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ efficiency ratio estimates. Synchrony Financial had the slowest revenue growth in the group. The stock is up 7.2% since reporting and currently trades at $78.68. Read our full, actionable report on Synchrony Financial here, it’s free. Over the past year, investors have been forced to repeatedly answer the same question: what is the market’s biggest risk? The answer has changed several times, and each shift has reshaped market leadership. Late in 2025 and early 2026, artificial intelligence became the market’s primary uncertainty. Investors questioned whether AI would erode software pricing power and weaken competitive moats as AI made it easier to replicate once-differentiated products. By the spring, technology took a back seat to geopolitics. The U.S. conflict with Iran briefly became the market’s dominant narrative, raising concerns about oil prices, inflation, and global growth. But as energy markets remained orderly and fears of a prolonged supply disruption faded, investors quickly turned their focus back to fundamentals. Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 5 Growth Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.

In this episode of Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing, Motley Fool contributors Travis Hoium, Lou Whiteman, and Rachel Warren discuss: SoFi’s results. Is SoFi just a bank? Visa’s strong growth. P&G Iis fine? Bloom Energy growth. The AI trade. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy. Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue » A full transcript is below. Before you buy stock in SoFi Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and SoFi Technologies wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $400,155!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,345,502!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by 4x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 7, 2026. This podcast was recorded on July 29, 2026. Travis Hoium: Earning season is in full swing, and Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing starts now. Welcome to Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing. I'm Travis Hoium, joined today by Lou Whiteman and Rachel Warren, and guys, we've got earnings on the mind today. We're going to get four different earnings reports, at least touch on them. Lou, the first one that I wanted to get your thoughts on is one that I'm sure a lot of Fools have in their portfolio, or at least their watch list. That is SoFi, the numbers looked pretty impressive. Total revenue was up 43%. Net income was up 61%, and yet, the stock is down almost 10% today. I think the stock is acting rationally. Again, I know I get a lot of hate for this, but you just don't like growth, Lou. Let's be honest. Lou Whiteman: I like growth. It's just the question of what you're paying for growth. One thing we learned from that short report, and I think it's important. The short report was mostly just nonsense, but one thing that I think it did highlight is SoFi loves to use mark-to-market and other adjustments to create non-GAAP earnings. That's fine. They disclose it. Again, the short report was overstated. But it makes apples-to-apples comparisons to other banks very deceptive, and I think it flatters SoFi in a lot of ways. On a GAAP basis, SoFi is trading at 40 times earnings. The average bank trades at 10-15 times earnings. I can find you really good ones right now where the dividend yield is at 4% or so, and they're on the lower end of that 10%-15%. The question is, yes, SoFi is growing faster than these banks, and I think they can justify a premium valuation based on that growth. But I don't think the market is wrong in saying, I ain't 40 times earnings, which, you know, and we can go deeper into it if you want. But I think for all SoFi tries to say it is, SoFi is a bank, and it should be judged as a bank. It's a fast-growing bank. Give it a premium, but I do think the valuation is still, I catch. Travis Hoium: Is that the criticism of the quarter and the stock right now still? Maybe this is a more attractive bank than other banks because it is growing more quickly. I still don't want to pay this price. And at what price do you think it becomes more intriguing? Lou Whiteman: My criticism is, why now, guys? We've known this for a while. I don't know why, maybe that there was hope that we were going to see different in the new quarter, but I mean, they are what they are. The fintech business, it's not nothing, but there are dozens of software vendors that'll give you banking as a service. Inevitably, these faux banks come and go left and right. There isn't really any differentiators. That software business always seemed a little suspect to me. If you want a great fintech bank story, buy Live Oak. Don't buy SoFi. SoFi is a retail bank, and at some point, we should value it like one. Travis Hoium: Rachel, do you see this quarter similarly, or do you look at these? Not only did they grow members, but they actually grew products faster than members, which tells you that their uptake on those products is a little bit higher. Getting more people in the ecosystem and getting them to use SoFi more. Rachel Warren: Yeah, I have a few thoughts on this. And I don't necessarily think you can value SoFi the same way you would legacy banks. But I do think there's a few very practical reasons why we've seen some of the pressure on the stock. I mean, going back to the quarter, they added over 1 million new members in the quarter alone. Their base is just shy of 16 million people on that banking side. Management raised SoFi is full-year revenue outlook, so that core machine seems to be resilient. Now, it was interesting. I think one of the things investors didn't like was, of course, the tech platform segment that dropped 23% in terms of revenue. That was largely because we saw a major enterprise client that had left the platform at the end of last year, so we've been seeing the impact since then. Full-year profit and earnings per share guidance remained the same. I think we're in a market where a lot of investors are hoping for not only a beat but a raise. The risk that I would be watching here is SoFi is leaning heavily into capital-intensive lending to fuel its growth story. We saw total loan originations hit a record $14.8 billion that included about $10.7 billion in personal loans. Their CEO is insisting that the borrowers are remaining resilient. Personal loan charge-offs and credit delinquency trends are creeping upward across the industry, however. The reason this matters is SoFi keeps these high-yield loans on its own balance sheet rather than instantly offloading them. If we see a macro downturn, which I'm not saying we will, but it's something to watch for, or even a spike in consumer defaults, that will hit the balance sheet. And we also saw that, you know, tech platform-enabled accounts actually dropped about 16% year over year. They have seen a bit of an impact from the loss of that major enterprise client. Fundamentally, I think this is a good business. I think it's a solid one, and I don't think there's anything wrong that is leading to the pressure on the stock. I think a lot of this is just the machinations of the market. I do think that these are elements to watch, though, if you own SoFi or even are thinking about buying shares. Travis Hoium: Lou, we have a name for companies that make loans and keep them on their balance sheet. You know what that is? I know where you're going at this, Lou. Lou Whiteman: It's a bank. Travis Hoium: Yeah. Let's talk about the products, because maybe I'm showing my ignorance here, but I was really surprised by one stat in there that they said the products per member reached 1.54, which is an all-time high. Now, I've been involved with banks for 30 years, and most banks don't break down the numbers. But if you hire a bank consultant to what they come in, the first thing they're trying to do is to get that number to two or three per member, or customer. Lou Whiteman: That's why they get you to open a checking account and a savings account. Travis Hoium: Right,1.54, maybe it just spread. I think it speaks to how much a SoFi is just paper-thin marketing, because that implies that a ton of their customers, relative to a community bank, only have one product. I don't know if that's the flex things is one stat we can use. JPMorgan says that 30% of their retail customers have two or more products. Again, that's not an apples-to-apples. Like I said, most banks don't list that, and it's kind of a weird thing to list, but I'm surprised they're flexing that number because I think there's community banks that I can walk to from my house that would really laugh at that number. It's funny you mentioned that because that is one of the metrics that I do watch with SoFi. But I have also opened accounts at all of these things. If you open, for example, we have a Wells Fargo account. They will charge you a credit, have a checking account unless you also have a savings account ,and you deposit, I think, it's $25 a month into that savings account automatically from the checking account that you also created. Lou Whiteman: Yeah, I don't want to be too hard on them. They are a good bank, but I do think as investors, and maybe a lot of investors don't look at banks, and so far it has kind of attracted the eye of growth investors just because of the story and where they're based and who runs them. I think there is a lesson here that maybe I am being too hard, but maybe also the market is being too generous. It is really, really hard for a bank to be anything other than a bank, and at some point, there is regression to the mean. I think investors, they both things can be true. It can be a very well-run company with growth that exceeds national averages and still overvalued based relative to the opportunity. Travis Hoium: Well, we will be keeping an eye on SoFi, and I'm sure Lou and I will keep arguing about the future of the company. We'll see who's right over the next 5 or 10 years. Listen on to this show. When we come back, we're going to check in on the health of the consumer. You're listening to a Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing. ADVERTISEMENT: Abercrombie knows Denim better than anyone. Their Relax Jean was made for everyday plans, while their baggy jean comes through for the days. You need something different. Plus, they've got their original classic fits and athletic fits for guys who want a little more room in the fight and seat. Shop Abercrombie Denim and more in the app, online, and in stores. Travis Hoium: Welcome back to Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing. Let's turn our attention to direct consumer spending. There's a number of different companies who are giving us an indication of how healthy the consumer is. Rachel, one that caught your eye was Procter & Gamble. Maybe not the most exciting company, but it's at least people telling us how much people are buying diapers and things, the necessities of life. Rachel Warren: Right. This is the company that's known for those household name products like Tide, Pampers, the list goes on. It does provide an interesting insight into how consumers are behaving. This is, I will note, not a company that is typically high growth even in the best of macroeconomic times. The margins are slim, a normal year of growth or a quarter, you might see 2% year-over-year gains. But Procter & Gamble actually missed Wall Street's revenue expectations by about 180 million for the quarter. They pulled in about 21 billion in this recent quarter. Volume was flat year over year. Operating margins were actually down. They actually saw profits decline by about 15%. Why does this matter? Their operating margins were compressed because you're seeing companies like this have to spend significantly on marketing to try to protect their share, and consumer staples operate on very thin incremental margins. Any drop in volume hits profits quickly. But I think what this tells us about the broader consumer is that a lot of average households are really reaching their financial limits. We're not seeing a dramatic economic crash where people stop shopping, but we are seeing very tactical retreats and approaches to how consumers are putting their money to work. They're looking at these legacy companies that put these household name brands forward, and they're not willing to absorb the higher costs. Companies like Procter & Gamble have implemented over the last few years. They're stretching out their existing household supplies. They're maybe switching to cheaper store brands. They're buying smaller packages. When you're a company like Procter & Gamble, they've certainly, you know, lasted through their fair share of market ups and downs, but it can really come in hard on the margins. I think, if anything, this yields continued ground to the likes of Walmart and Costco, who not only control the physical store shelves, but also have their own private label brands and really robust e-commerce presence as well. Lou Whiteman: I think Rachel's right. It is the store brands, and I don't know if this says anything about the consumer right now. That's a trend that was going well before this current. This is a denies a 15%-20% a year. I think it just speaks to, and we've seen this with Kraft Heinz. We've seen this with so many. I don't think P&G it's just a terrible place to be right now. Consumers have realized the store. I remember in the ‘80s one joked about it. Well, it's the same product. It's just a different label. That was kind of novel back then. Now it's table stakes. That vast middle, that big consumer brand with a logo has really suffered. Again, I am reluctant to read anything into the health of the consumer. I think what the consumer right now has showed us is they will pay up for select things, like maybe on shoes or something like that. But for most everyday purchases, the fact that it's tied and not Costco brand just doesn't matter. I think that's what we're seeing. We can talk about Visa, too [OVERLAPPING]. Travis Hoium: Well, I wanted to point out the store brand thing, I think is really interesting because that was one of the things when I started at 3M's biggest manufacturing plant in 2005. The interesting thing there was you would have Scotch tape rolling off the line, and then 5 minutes later, there would be Walmart tape rolling off the line. It was literally the exact same equipment. They make it a little bit worse, so it is not quite the same product. You want to have that other product be a little bit higher quality. There is a little bit of a premium there. But it's not like it doesn't hold a piece of paper on the wall. It's not like the diapers are going to be complete garbage. That is something that we've seen for a very long time is that those big companies, the Walmarts, the Costcos, the Targets of the world, have the power to say, Hey, you know what, if you want to be in our store, we want to have our label on. What do you think about Visa though, Lou? Lou Whiteman: This is another way to look at the consumer, and it's a much healthier look, which is maybe why I'm not sure how to read P&G, but Visa reported 10% U.S. volume growth in payments. That's the fastest growth rate since fiscal 2019. Transaction counts were up to about, say, 10%. This isn't just an inflation story or something like that. There is actual transactions happening. Visa also and Travis, is something we've talked about a lot, but the K-shaped economy. Visa said spending is not isolated to high earners. This is strength across the board. Just last week, the economists over at Bank of America said they believe the K-shaped trade may be reversing in a good way, more spending power across the board with kind of the lower end of that K kind of picking up. I mean, I don't think we know that yet, but Visa's results sort of back up that idea. Now, look, there was more I mean, I think the World Cup factored in here. There's international experiences, which it's kind of the upper end of [inaudible]. I'm not saying that it is all just perfect and fine. But the quarter was fine. They're forecasting basically status quo for the rest of the year. I continue to think both Visa and Mastercard are undervalued right now because of the disruption potential. I like Mastercard better, but I think that, look, status quo is really good here, and this was at worst a status quo quarter. Travis Hoium: Things seem to be OK for the consumer right now, and maybe that's OK for the market right now. When we come back, we're going to talk about an energy company that just grew revenue of 166%. You're listening to Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing. ADVERTISEMENT: This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result, less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at accenture.com/Spotify-UK. ADVERTISEMENT: The Meal Deal plus at McDonald's, bag yourself a mayo chicken or cheese burger with medium fries and select a drink on one of five bonus sides like four McNuggets or a mini McFlurry, all for 559. Now that saves a satisfaction. From 11:00 A.M. Not on delivery. Includes a selected saving menu bega, medium fries, selected drink, and a selected bonus side. Price and participation may vary. Travis Hoium: Welcome back to Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing. Bloom Energy reported earnings last night. Rachel, this is one of the more interesting stocks out there right now. This stock has been absolutely on fire over the past year or two, because this is one of the few companies that can put energy into a data center at a relatively rapid clip. Revenue was up 166%. What do we need to know about the quarter? Rachel Warren: It was a great quarter for Bloom Energy. Their adjusted earnings per share also were double what Wall Street was guiding for. They raised the revenue outlook as well, looking ahead to the rest of the year. Obviously, as you noted, the stocks down from its recent peak. I think that this is one of those businesses that is very vulnerable to having volatility based on unrealistic hype cycles. This is a company that's executing well. Worth noting, just about every major AI hyperscaler has now approved their fuel cells to bypass utility grid bottlenecks. But I do think there is a question of when there might be periods where the AI power trade could run out of gas, where we could see the stock vulnerable to sector profit-taking. I think that might be something we're seeing right now. I mean, there's this question of when we're going to see this transition from buying a catchy AI narrative to really looking at the capital-heavy reality of physical infrastructure. Fuel cells are a physical manufacturing business. Generating energy requires real factories, massive upfront capital, very complex installation timelines. Now, Bloom's profit margins improved this quarter. Scaling up production to meet the demand that they're facing is a very expensive endeavor. It will limit their short-term cash flows. Now, I don't think that we need to worry that Bloom's business is broken just because they're down since their summer highs, but I do think that we might be coming towards a point where the market could force some of these AI infrastructure companies to justify their valuations with some real-world unit economics. That could be some of it. Travis Hoium: Lou, it does seem to be kind of a theme where a lot of these pick-and-shovel plays coming back a little bit, because investors are starting to go, Wait a second, how sustainable are these growth rates and margins that we see today? Lou Whiteman: Let's get that in a second because I think that's exactly right. But yeah, stocks down is 50% from its high, still up 400% over the past year. It's still a double in 2026, even if it is 50% since June, and it still trades at 75 times forward earnings for an industrial company is pretty amazing. Quarter is fine, Rachel's right. Given the AI power demand, anything short of fine would have been a real negative WOW factor, but they held SRV, and that's great. Remaining performance obligations, RPO, that was flat. Remember, Wall Street tends to pay for growth from here, not growth that has occurred. I think that is the easiest way to explain is coming back to Earth, kind of letting some of the air out of tires. It's great. If they can sustain at this level, and I think they probably can, given the demand, that's a fine company, but it doesn't make you a gross stock. Picks and shovels, I think it's really interesting because picks and shovels, it's so clever and everyone loves to look smart with picks and shovels trades, but they are imperfect trades. They are a trade you do because the underlying asset is overvalued. You know, why if you want to invest in hyperscalers but the hyperscalers are overvalued, how about investing in their suppliers? It is just a secondary way to play a trend. Right now, you can get the hyperscalers at much more attractive valuations than the vendors serving them. Why focus on the vendors? I think the market kind of looking away from somebody's picks and shovels. I think it's just over for now. Travis Hoium: It'll be interesting to see where that story goes because you're right, that has been a theme, but when a theme needs to become a fundamental reality, eventually for the market, fundamentals eventually drive stock market performance, and Bloom is doing extremely well, but the ROI that we see today may not be sustainable long term. As always, people on the program may have interest in the stocks they talk about, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows The Motley Fool's editorial standards and is not approved by advertisers. Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. To see our full advertising disclosure, please check out our show notes. For Lou Whiteman, Rachel Warren, and Dan Boyd behind the glass, I'm Travis Hoium. We'll see you here tomorrow. Wells Fargo is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Lou Whiteman has positions in Live Oak Bancshares and Walmart. Rachel Warren has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Travis Hoium has positions in SoFi Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bloom Energy, Costco Wholesale, JPMorgan Chase, Live Oak Bancshares, Mastercard, Target, Visa, and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends 3M and Kraft Heinz. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. SoFi and Visa Earnings Point to Consumer Confidence was originally published by The Motley Fool

Find your next quality investment with Simply Wall St's easy and powerful screener, trusted by over 7 million individual investors worldwide. Visa (V) has drawn fresh attention after reporting third quarter sales of US$11.63b and net income of US$5.63b, alongside an ongoing share buyback and an affirmed quarterly dividend of US$0.67 per share. See our latest analysis for Visa. Visa's latest earnings, buyback activity and move into stablecoin infrastructure have come alongside a share price of US$368.54, with a 90 day share price return of 14.71% and a 5 year total shareholder return of 62.76%. This points to solid momentum over both shorter and longer periods. If Visa's recent moves in payments and blockchain have caught your eye, it may be worth broadening your watchlist with other payment and crypto related opportunities through the 20 cryptocurrency and blockchain stocks Visa’s share price has already moved on recent earnings, buybacks and its push into stablecoins. The next step is to evaluate whether today’s valuation still leaves enough potential upside, or whether waiting for a lower entry price makes more sense. Visa closed at $368.54, while the most followed narrative on the stock pegs fair value at $197.40. That gap matters if you are weighing fresh capital or simply deciding whether to keep Visa on a watchlist. Read the complete narrative. Want to understand why this narrative still lands on a much lower fair value for Visa? The answer sits in how revenue mix, margins and cash conversion are tied together across the forecast period. Result: Fair Value of $197.40 (OVERVALUED) Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what's behind the forecasts. However, Visa still faces potential pressure if regulatory outcomes on payments routing are tougher than expected or if account to account payment rails consolidate faster in key markets. Find out about the key risks to this Visa narrative. The user narrative tags Visa as overvalued at a fair value of $197.40. Our DCF model points in a different direction. At a current price of $368.54, Visa is trading below an estimated future cash flow value of $396.88, which indicates that the stock appears undervalued using this method. When two frameworks disagree this clearly, it raises a practical question. Which set of assumptions on growth, margins and cash conversion do you find more realistic for Visa over the long haul, and how much conviction do you need before acting on either signal. Look into how the SWS DCF model arrives at its fair value. Simply Wall St performs a discounted cash flow (DCF) on every stock in the world every day (check out Visa for example). We show the entire calculation in full. You can track the result in your watchlist or portfolio and be alerted when this changes, or use our stock screener to discover 51 high quality undervalued stocks. If you save a screener we even alert you when new companies match - so you never miss a potential opportunity. With Visa presenting both potential rewards and clear areas of concern, it makes sense to review the underlying data now and decide where you stand. To weigh those trade offs for yourself, take a closer look at the 3 key rewards and 1 important warning sign Do not stop with Visa. Cast the net wider now, or you risk missing stocks that better match your goals, risk comfort and income needs. Target long term value by scanning companies that combine quality with attractive pricing through the 51 high quality undervalued stocks Strengthen your income stream by focusing on reliable payers using the 8 dividend fortresses Protect your capital by zeroing in on steadier profiles with the 79 resilient stocks with low risk scores This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Companies discussed in this article include V. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email [email protected]