CheckFree
Robert Metz (5/12)
Some two million Americans pay their bills online today. That figure could rise to 50 million by 2007, according to CheckFree (CKFR:Nasdaq), the leading online bill payment specialist. Thought not currently profitable, CheckFree represents a potential tenfold growth in its current stock price of 24 1/8, says former New York Times financial columnist Robert Metz.
CheckFree provides electronic payments systems to financial institutions, brokerage firms and businesses, which incorporate them into their own e-commerce products. CheckFree is an invisible conduit that takes a fee for each transaction. Last year, the company processed 85 million transactions for more than 2.5 million merchants. Losses are narrowing. For the nine months ended March 31, they were 8 cents per share, down from a loss of 40 cents per share for the same period a year ago.
Tenfold gains are, by no means, assured Metz cautions. "Several times in the past, CheckFree has developed a new game plan ... expecting profits to materialize. It hasn't happened yet," he says. Also worth factoring into the equation is CheckFree's sole, but formidable, rival in the field, a partnership between Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq) and First Data (FDC:NYSE).
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