Here's Why Investors Should Retain Global Payments Stock for Now

Global Payments Inc. GPN is benefiting from the shift toward digital payments and growing demand for integrated commerce solutions, with rising transaction volumes, strategic acquisitions and partnerships, and increasing adoption of its Genius platform supporting growth. Shares of GPN have risen 19.5% over the past six months, outperforming the industry’s growth of 1.1%.

GPN holds a market capitalization of $23 billion. The company operates via three reportable segments: Enterprise, Platforms and Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB). Its forward 12-month P/E ratio of 5.67X is lower than the industry average of 17.72X.

Courtesy of solid prospects, GPN currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Let’s delve deeper.

Where Do Estimates for GPN Stand?

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Global Payments’ 2026 earnings is pegged at $13.64 per share, indicating 11.6% year-over-year growth. Furthermore, the consensus mark for revenues is pegged at $12.4 billion for 2026, indicating a 32.7% year-over-year increase. It beat earnings estimates in three of the past four quarters and met once, with an average surprise of 1.6%.

Global Payments Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Global Payments Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Global Payments Inc. Quote

GPN’s Growth Drivers

Global Payments is gaining traction from the rollout of its Genius point-of-sale platform across its SMB business. New Genius locations increased more than 50% year over year and nearly 25% sequentially in the second quarter of 2026. The broader sales-force transformation is also improving merchant acquisition, supporting further Genius penetration.

The company’s segments delivered solid normalized growth in the second quarter. SMB revenues increased 4% year over year with 4% volume growth, while Enterprise revenues rose 7%, supported by low-double-digit growth in card-not-present revenues. Platforms also generated adjusted net revenues of $628 million, representing normalized growth of 7% year over year, led by embedded payments, with segment volume up 10%.

The integration of Worldpay is creating a broader platform across merchants, enterprises and software partners. GPN is aligning its technology architecture and go-to-market structure while pursuing cost synergies. Additional enterprise clients are expected to go live during the third quarter, providing another source of growth.

Global Payments is expanding AI across its products and operations while building capabilities for agentic commerce. Its Platforms segment is benefiting from embedded payments, including PayFac and managed PayFac offerings, while AI-powered Revenue Boost is designed to improve payment approval rates. These initiatives can deepen the company’s role within software-led commerce ecosystems.

GPN returned significant capital to its shareholders, repurchasing $1.2 billion of stock in 2025 and $1.1 billion in the first half of 2026. The company expects to return more than $2 billion through buybacks and dividends in 2026.

Key Concerns for GPN Stock

There are a few factors, however, that investors should keep an eye on.

Competition in digital payments continues to accelerate as new entrants and fintech platforms expand aggressively. Rising pricing pressure and the need for faster product innovation heighten execution demands. This competitive backdrop will weigh on Global Payments’ margins, pricing power and market share as it works to maintain differentiation across merchant services.

Despite implementing multiple cost control measures, the company's operating expenses are on the rise. Its adjusted operating expenses rose 40.1% year over year in the second quarter of 2026.

Additionally, its long-term debt amounted to $21.5 billion at second-quarter 2026 end compared with $19.5 billion at 2025-end. Its long-term debt-to-capital of 47.7% is higher than the industry average of 40%.

Key Picks

Some top-ranked stocks in the business services space are Remitly Global, Inc. RELY, The GEO Group, Inc. GEO and Huron Consulting Group Inc. HURN, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Remitly Global’s current-year earnings of $1.57 per share has witnessed one upward revision in the past 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. RELY beat earnings estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 327.7%. The consensus estimate for current-year revenues is pegged at $2 billion, implying 21.4% year-over-year growth.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for The Geo Group’s current-year earnings of $1.31 per share has witnessed three upward revisions in the past 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. GEO beat earnings estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and met once, with the average surprise being 24.6%. The consensus estimate for current-year revenues is pegged at $3 billion, calling for a 14.1% year-over-year increase.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Huron Consulting Group’s current-year earnings of $9.18 per share has witnessed three upward revisions in the past 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. HURN beat earnings estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 12.4%. The consensus estimate for current-year revenues is pegged at $1.9 billion, suggesting 12.4% year-over-year growth.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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