TLDR
- Global Payments (GPN) stock jumped nearly 17% Wednesday after beating Q4 earnings estimates
- Adjusted EPS came in at $3.18, edging past the $3.16 consensus
- Board authorized a $2.5B share buyback, including a $550M accelerated repurchase
- 2026 adjusted EPS guidance of $13.80–$14.00 topped analyst estimates of $13.78
- Company completed its Worldpay acquisition and Issuer Solutions divestiture in Q4, becoming a pure-play merchant solutions provider
Global Payments (GPN) stock surged nearly 17% on Wednesday after the fintech reported a Q4 earnings beat and laid out an upbeat outlook for 2026 that included a $2.5 billion share buyback plan.
$GPN Global Payments +10% pre-market on earnings crush!
Q4 adj EPS $3.18 (beat $3.16 est), rev $2.32B (meet).
Dropped bullish 2026 guide: $13.80–$14 adj EPS (above ~$13.58 consensus), 5% adj net rev growth.
CEO Bready: "We continue to expect to return $7.5 billion of capital… pic.twitter.com/rvUqNDE3tN
— WSB News (@NewsFromWSB) February 18, 2026
The stock climbed from around $69 to $81.27 by the close, making it one of the bigger single-day moves the company has seen in recent memory.
For Q4 2025, Global Payments posted adjusted EPS of $3.18, narrowly beating the $3.16 analyst consensus. It was up from $2.85 in Q4 2024, though down slightly from $3.26 the prior quarter.
Adjusted net revenue came in at $2.32 billion for the quarter, matching expectations. That’s up 1% year-over-year but down from $2.43 billion in Q3 2025.
Merchant Solutions, now the company’s core business, brought in adjusted net revenue of $1.78 billion. That was roughly flat with Q4 2024, but down from $1.89 billion in Q3.
Issuer Solutions posted $557.1 million in adjusted net revenue, compared with $530.1 million in the year-ago period. The segment has been treated as discontinued operations since Q2 2025, following the announced sale to Fidelity National Information Services (FIS).
The Q4 adjusted operating margin expanded 80 basis points year-over-year to 44.7%.
$2.5 Billion Buyback and Dividend Confirmed
The board authorized a buyback of up to $2.5 billion in stock, with $550 million set to be repurchased immediately through an accelerated share repurchase agreement.
CEO Cameron Bready said the company remains on track to return $7.5 billion to shareholders through the end of 2027, a target set at the 2024 investor conference.
The board also confirmed a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, consistent with payouts since September 2021. It yields around 1.2% and will be paid March 30 to shareholders of record as of March 9.
Global Payments expects to return more than $2 billion to shareholders in 2026 through a combination of buybacks and dividends.
2026 Guidance Tops Street Estimates
For the full year 2026, the company is guiding for adjusted EPS of $13.80 to $14.00, representing 13% to 15% growth over 2025. That range exceeds the consensus analyst estimate of $13.78.
Constant currency adjusted net revenue is expected to grow around 5%, excluding dispositions. That compares with just 1.8% growth in 2025.
Adjusted operating margin is projected to expand by approximately 150 basis points.
The 2026 guidance comes as Global Payments wraps up a period of major restructuring. In Q4, it completed the acquisition of Worldpay and closed the Issuer Solutions divestiture to FIS, leaving it focused entirely on merchant solutions.
The Q4 adjusted operating margin of 44.7% reflects an 80 basis point year-over-year improvement, a number the company is looking to build on in 2026.
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