Fiserv Inc. plunged by the most ever after the fintech slashed its outlook for full-year earnings and announced a broad overhaul of its board and top leadership committee.
The company, one of the largest providers of technology to banks, cut its estimate for this year’s adjusted earnings per share to $8.50 to $8.60 from the $10.15 to $10.30 it previously anticipated. Adjusted third-quarter revenue and EPS fell well short of analysts’ estimates.
“Our current performance is not where we want it to be nor where our stakeholders expect it to be,” Chief Executive Officer Mike Lyons said in a statement announcing the results.
Fiserv shares lost a record 46%, and analysts expressed surprise at how quickly the business appears to have soured. Trevor Williams, an analyst at Jefferies, said the magnitude of the earnings miss and forecast cut “is difficult to comprehend.”
The company also reported a 3% drop in revenue in its financial-solutions segment. The stock plunge brought this year’s decline to 67%.
“To be frank, we are struggling to recall a miss and guide down to this degree in any of the sub-sectors we have covered during our time on the Street,” Matthew Coad, an analyst at Truist Financial Corp., said in a note to clients.
Read more: Fiserv Sinks as Outlook ‘Difficult to Comprehend’: Street Wrap
“Management responses weren’t convincing on what drove the steep change in revenue assessment, or inspire confidence that there will be no more surprises, Diksha Gera, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said. “It leaves a lot of uncertainty around how conservative or aggressive these cuts are and how much more to go.”
Reset Needed
Lyons said on an earnings conference call that he worked with management and external advisers during the first quarter, his first as CEO, to “conduct a rigorous analysis of the company’s operations, technology, financials and forecasting.”
“One of the key takeaways from our analysis is that Fiserv’s growth and margin targets need to be reset,” he said.
Fiserv’s financial-solutions division provides the underlying technology for legions of banks and credit unions across the country. The division’s margins plummeted in the third quarter to 42.5% — down about five percentage points from the same period a year earlier.
The company also provides payment processing to thousands of retailers. Investors have been paying close attention to that division — which is known as the merchant-solutions segment — because it has been weighed down by macroeconomic uncertainty in recent quarters.
Management Changes
Fiserv is promoting Chief Operating Officer Takis Georgakopoulos to be co-president alongside Dhivya Suryadevara, who was most recently CEO of Optum Financial Services and Optum Insight at UnitedHealth Group. The company also elevated Paul Todd to become chief financial officer.
The three executives “have the skills and experience to lead critical strategic initiatives” at Fiserv, Lyons said in a separate statement. “We also have opportunities in front of us to improve our results and execution, and I am confident that these are the right leaders to help guide Fiserv to long-term success.”
The company also announced three additions to its board — Gordon Nixon, Céline Dufétel, and Gary Shedlin. Nixon will take over for Doyle Simons as independent chairman of the board, while Shedlin will become chair of the audit committee.
“When these changes are fully phased in, the board will be comprised of 11 members, 10 of whom will be independent, and six of whom have been appointed in the past two years,” Fiserv said in the statement.






