Is A Beat In The Cards For VeriFone (PAY) In Q4 Earnings?

VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE:PAY) is set to report fiscal fourth-quarter 2017 results on Dec 12.

Last quarter, the company’s non-GAAP earnings of 36 cents were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate but decreased 13.2% from the year-ago quarter.

In the trailing four quarters, the company surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate once while matching the same on the other three occasions, delivering an average positive surprise of 0.86%.

The year-over-year decline in EPS was primarily due to lower non-GAAP revenues, which decreased 4.3% to $466.9 million but fared slightly better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Notably, VeriFone shares have gained 9.1% in the past year, significantly underperforming the 31.9% rally of the industry it belongs to.

Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Factors to Consider

VeriFone has a strong foothold in the electronic payment systems and services market and is likely to benefit from the ever-expanding demand for Point-of-Sale (POS) software and Payment-as-a Service technologies.

VeriFone’s focus on strengthening its product portfolio that now includes the likes of Carbon 8 and Engage will likely be a key growth driver going ahead. Demand for the Engage platform is expected to drive its top line. On the last earnings call, management had announced plans to launch Engage in 15 countries in the fourth quarter.

The company’s mPOS device has also gained traction within a short span of time. Management believes that it is on track to deliver more than 20% organic growth across mobile product portfolio in fiscal 2017.

In the quarter, VeriFone announced extension of its global partnership with Alibaba’s (NYSE:BABA) Alipay that enables Chinese travelers to pay taxi fares in the United States using Alipay Mobile Wallet.

VeriFone is anticipated to benefit from strong growth in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Sluggishness in the Asia Pacific region is a concern but management expects it to perform better compared to the last reported quarter. However, the Latin American market is anticipated to remain flat when compared sequentially.

The company expects modest growth in North America driven by strong growth traction in retail and SMB verticals. However, headwinds in the petroleum vertical and divestiture of taxi business remain concerns for the region.

Nonetheless, the divestitures of the company’s non-core business are anticipated to have a positive impact on margins.

What Our Model Says

According to the Zacks model, a company with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or #3 (Hold) has a good chance of beating estimates if it also has a positive Earnings ESP. The Sell-rated stocks (Zacks Rank #4 or #5) are best avoided. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

VeriFone has an Earnings ESP of +1.36% and a Zacks Rank #3, which indicates a likely positive surprise.

Other Stocks to Consider

Here are two companies that you may also want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to deliver an earnings beat in their upcoming release:

AppFolio Inc. (NASDAQ:APPF) with an Earnings ESP of +44.44% and a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

CSG Systems International Inc. (NASDAQ:CSGS) with an Earnings ESP of +0.76% and a Zacks Rank #1

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