Discover (DFS) Ties Up To Expand Its Presence In UK, Ireland

Discover Financial Services’ (NYSE:DFS) payment brand Discover Global Network entered into an agreement with EVO Payments, which would allow EVO merchants in the UK and Ireland to process Discover, Diners Club International and associate card networks.

EVO Payments, a market-leading company providing payment technology integrations and acquiring solutions, will provide its UK and Ireland merchants with accessibility to additional networks in 2019. Meanwhile, merchants in other markets will be able to use the same networks in 2020. Cardholders can now enjoy a convenient payments experience while traveling.

Notably, EVO Payments would gain traction from this move as cardholders around the globe can easily pay at EVO merchant sites in the UK and Ireland. Its merchants will be able to cater to a wide range of customers.

The Discover Global Network consists of Discover Network, Diners Club International, PULSE and more than 15 alliance partner networks worldwide. Internationally, it comprises 44 million plus merchant approval locations and 2 million ATM cash availability sites.

The company has been constantly taking initiatives to expand its presence. Last month, Discover Global Network along with Cabal, a local payments network in Argentina, inked a deal to boost the international acceptance of cards issued by both companies.

In August 2019, Discover Global Network and Verve, a market-leading payments technology company, teamed up to launch the Verve Global Card. With this contract, cardholders can access their Verve Global Cards on the Discover Global Network that will allow acceptance at multiple merchant points worldwide. In June, Discover Global Network and Redsys signed a pact for increasing its merchant acceptance in Spain. We expect all these endeavors to contribute to Discover Financial’s growth going forward.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have soared 57.4% in a year’s time, outperforming its industry’s rally of 41.1%.

Stocks to Consider

Investors interested in the same space might consider some better-ranked stocks like CURO Group Holdings Corp. (NYSE:CURO) , Cardtronics PLC (NASDAQ:CATM) and Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) .

CURO Group Holdings is a diversified consumer finance company. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock delivered a positive earnings surprise of 16.6% over the preceding four quarters. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Cardtronics offers automated consumer financial services through its network of automated teller machines and multi-purpose financial services kiosks. The company has average four-quarter beat of 28.8% and a Zacks Rank #1.

Global Payments provides payment technology and software solutions for card, electronic, check and digital-based payments. The company has a Zacks Rank of 2 and came up with average four-quarter positive surprise of 2.4%.

Just Released: Zacks’ 7 Best Stocks for Today

Experts extracted 7 stocks from the list of 220 Zacks Rank #1 Strong Buys that has beaten the market more than 2X over with a stunning average gain of +24.6% per year.

These 7 were selected because of their superior potential for immediate breakout.

See these time-sensitive tickers now >>