Here some additional CEFT notes I used at my club meeting.
- Kris
Additional Notes – Concord EFS
Concerns:
· As the demand for transaction processing increases, the competition will intensify. And the ATM market could become saturated. But:
o Concord has wisely aimed its services at the fastest-growing forms of payment: debit cards and EBTs.
o The company has also engineered its products toward growing business segments that encourage the use of cashless commerce.
· Will debit cards go out of favor or become replaced with something else?
o Credit-card transactions are growing at 7% to 10% per year. Debit cards will grow at about 20% per year for the next decade, says Wachovia's Bernal. According to a Salomon Smith Barney study, debit transactions will account for more than half of ETPC processing by 2010. That's significantly up from 25% today.
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Lehman names stocks to top 10 list for 2001-2002
NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) -- Lehman Brothers on Thursday released its annual "10 Uncommon Values" list of top stock picks, including companies such as Cisco Systems Inc., Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Concord EFS Inc., Harley-Davidson Inc., and Washington Mutual Inc. The list consists of 10 stocks whose returns Lehman analysts believe will exceed those of the broader market.
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RESEARCH ALERT-Bear Stearns starts Concord at buy
NEW YORK, July 18 (Reuters) - Bear Stearns said on Wednesday that it started coverage of Concord EFS Inc. with a buy rating, encouraged by the electronic commerce provider's creation of long-term growth opportunities…..a 12-month price target of $75 to $80 on the stock….``Through internal initiatives and a smart strategic acquisition strategy, CEFT has created a unique, comprehensive and vertically integrated payment processing solution and has targeted its offering at some of the least electronically penetrated vertical markets.''
He also listed investment concerns, including the integration of acquisitions, intense competition, the inherent risks of Concord's ``fairly aggressive'' acquisition strategy and the company's valuation.
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Market Report -- Story Stocks (CEFT)
July 10, 2001 2:40:00 PM ET
Profile on Concord EFS. Highlights: CEFT has a long history of impressive relative price strength and this year is no exception -- the shares are just two points off the best levels they have ever seen…. Financial transactions are increasingly gravitating towards electronic exchange, which makes for a promising outlook for companies targeting this market. Concord happens to be the number one online debit processor, growing this portion of its business by 40% annually. Some analysts estimates place the size of the online debit market at $8 billion and it's currently less than 4% penetrated. This leaves $7.7 billion of market potential up for the taking and judging by its relative price strength it looks like investors understand the longer-term implications. Around mid-June, Concord completed a secondary offering in which the shares priced at $49.50. … the risk/reward dynamics on Concord continue to be favorable and Briefing.com continues to like it near current prices. -- Michael Ashbaugh, Briefing.com
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Concord EFS Reports Net Income Up 36% in 2nd Quarter 200 - BusinessWire
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jul 26, 2001 -- Concord EFS, Inc. today announced continued strong financial results in the second quarter of 2001. Revenue grew 24% in the second quarter of 2001 as compared to the second quarter of 2000, while net income and diluted earnings per share were up 36% and 32%, respectively.
Second Quarter Highlights:
-- Revenue for the second quarter of 2001 was $420.7 million
compared to $338.8 million in the second quarter of 2000.
-- Net income was $71.2 million in the second quarter of 2001, or
$0.28 diluted earnings per share, compared to $52.3 million,
or $0.21 diluted earnings per share, in the second quarter of
2000.
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Monday July 30, 6:00 am Eastern Time
``Zacks All Star Analyst Releases 4 Strong Buys''
INTERNET WIRE -- Today we cast the spotlight on 5 Star analyst Ramkrishna Kasargod from Morgan Keegan. Last year, his electrical contract manufacturing picks posted a 127% return while the market was losing ground. Now, he gives us his advice on finding strong stocks in a weak market. His recommendations: Concord EFS, Inc., MasTec, Inc., Cree, Inc., and WorldCom Group…. Concord is exposed to the consumer sector, which Kasargod says has been doing better than the technology and financial sectors. Concord continues to come through with earnings, and its strong growth record leads Kasargod to believe it is definitely undervalued relative to its peers.
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Kiplinger's Personal Finance
August 2001 | INVESTING | STOCKS
Earnings You Can Count On
Concord listed as one of 28 companies recommended that “can deliver double-digit growth even in a sluggish economy.”
name today'squote expectedearningsgain (%)* P/E ratio** long-termearningsgrowth***
Concord EFS CEFT 33 45 30
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THE STOCKPICKERS
Manager watches long-term earnings
By Mike Tarsala, CBS.MarketWatch.comLast Update: 1:00 AM ET July 30, 2001
Profile on DeRosa's Badgley Balance Fund, down only 4.5 percent so far this year, compared with a 14.8 percent decline for the S&P 500. (Ranked No. 30 of the 785 funds tracked so far this year by investment research firm Lipper & Co.) "Earnings drives our investment decision-making, since consistent earnings leads to superior stock performance over time," DeRosa said. Likes Fannie Mae, DeRosa's largest holding, and his top pick. (snip)
Another stock pick is Concord EFS. which specializes in processing debit card purchases, which is a fast-growing, hidden market segment, he says. Concord offers companies a cheaper way to process card-based purchases, since debits represent less fraud risk than credit cards. Concord has earnings of more than 30 percent. Shares trade at more than 1.5 times its growth rate, but DeRosa argues the stock deserves a premium.
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Aug. 1, 2001 -- Coverage initiated on Concord EFS by Jolson MP as “LT Buy”
Fri Aug 10 CEFT Coverage initiated on Concord EFS by Legg Mason
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Chick-fil-A is Among the First Quick Service Restaurants to Accept Credit Card Payments
MEMPHIS, Tenn.--Aug. 13, 2001--Concord EFS, Inc. announced today that Chick-fil-A, Inc. has selected Concord to provide credit card payment processing and plans an initial market test to determine the feasibility of credit card acceptance in its restaurants.
· Chick-fil-A would partner with Concord to become one of the first quick-service restaurant chains to begin accepting credit cards for payment chain-wide.
· “Concord has the ability to support all of the point-of-sale terminals and integrated systems that are needed to provide credit card payments.
· ``Chick-fil-A is one of the most respected chains in the restaurant business,” with more than 980 restaurants in 34 states, and is now the country's second largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in sales
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