By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) are trading about 3% higher in pre-market Wednesday trading after Goldman Sachs analysts upgraded to Buy from Neutral.
The $127 per share price target implies an upside potential of about 20%. The analysts believe the recent stock underperformance, mostly due to the recent banking crisis and weak macro environment, presents a compelling opportunity.
“We see the recent selloff as a buying opportunity, and see the risk reward as highly attractive at current levels. We believe the merchant business is poised to sustain somewhat better than feared trends as currency headwinds fade, aided by a stronger start to the year in 1Q23. Additionally, we see the Issuer business sustaining growth rates above the company’s target range (HSD organic in 2023, ~6% in 2024) as the company works through its significant implementation pipeline,” they said in a client note.
The analysts also believe GPN can deliver roughly mid-teens YoY EPS growth in 2024.
The GPN stock was also boosted by comments from Barclays analysts, who see GPN topping analyst estimates for Q1.
They reiterated an Overweight rating and $125.00 price target on GPN.
"We continue to view the stock as a high-quality, dislocated asset and would-be buyers at current valuation levels," they said.
GPN shares are up 6.6% year-to-date.