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Hongliang Zhang

FIS AT A GLANCE

P/E ► 21.6 AVG EV/EBITDA ► 10.9 AVG ROA ► 4.1% AVG ROE ► 4.7% AVG Debt to Equity ► 0.992 AVG Current Ratio ► 1.42 AVG Interest Coverage Ratio ► 2.60 AVG

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIS provides transaction and processing services to financial institutions to help them monitor and maintain everyday activities. In addition, FIS also offers risk management and fraud detection software to financial institutions, credit unions, and mortgage providers. In April 2009 FIS announced that it would be acquiring rival Metavante. Though the acquisition has been stalled due to stockholder lawsuits on both companies, FIS expects the acquisition to ultimately be beneficial to the company, allowing it to cross sell services and applications to Metavante's former clients. ^[1] FIS currently serves 40 out of 50 of the nation's top banks and over 17,000 other clients over 40 countries.^[2]

FIS has had a compound annual growth rate of 37% in revenues between 2004 and 2008.^[3] This growth lead FIS to post consolidated revenue of $3.4 B in the 2008 fiscal year, an 18% increase from the last fiscal year. This record revenue can be attributed to growth in each of its three business segments: payment solutions, financial solutions, and international. Revenue grew by 15% in its Financial Solutions segment, 18% in its Payment Solutions segment, and 23% in its International segment ^[4]

The 2008 financial crisis has caused yet immeasurable impact on FIS' revenue streams. With the trend of consolidation in the banking industry, FIS has seen a decrease in revenue from sales of its risk management and fraud detection software in the 2008 fiscal year while the impact on its other services have yet to be seen.^[5] FIS plans to overcome this loss in revenue by increasing in revenue from its card transaction services and outsourcing consulting. FIS expects increased revenue from its card transaction services as more people begin to use debit cards instead of cash in their everyday transactions. With the acquisition of companies specializing in outsourcing services such as Second Foundation Inc, FIS has also positioned itself increase revenues from its outsourcing services as well.^[6]

Company Overview

FIS was created in 1962 as a financial services technology division of FNF. That changed after FNF's 2006 merger with Catergy. The result was the creation of FIS as an independent company, with parts of the original division under FNF combined with similar divisions under Catergy, though FNF currently hold over 50% of the company's shares.^[7] In 2008, FIS spun off its lender processing services (LPS) into a separate company in order to concentrate more on its other services. As of 2008, FIS currently offers a broad range of software and services that help its clients manage day to day activities as well as asses risk and help prevent fraud. Software offered by FIS include risk management applications to help financial institutions assess the risk of opening new accounts, lending software to allow mortgage lenders to assess the credit worthiness of potential borrowers, and pattern detection software to help detect fraud.^[8] Services offered by FIS include core processing, card transaction services, and check clearing and electronic funds transfer (EFT) services. FIS' core processing services allows smaller community institutions to outsource their everyday processes such as deposits, loans, mortgages, and IT infrastructure maintenance.^[9] FIS' card transaction services offer cardholder services (such as the processing of regular and prepaid credit cards), loyalty programs, and collection to financial institutions.^[10] Finally FIS' check clearing and EFT services helps institutions process and monitor such activities as ATM activity, online banking, wire transfers, and checking while also detecting fraud in such activities.^[11]

Acquisitions

FIS has grown rapidly through the acquisition of both domestic and foreign companies. Notable acquisitions include Second Foundation Inc in 2007, eFunds in 2007, and Metavante, which was announced in 2009 but still pending. FIS' acquisition of Second Foundation Inc allowed it to expand into off shore global information technology services.^[12] The eFunds Corporation lead it to enter the credit union processing industry, leading to a $504.5 M increase in revenue in 2007 and 5% of market share.^[13][14] Finally, though the acquisition of former rival Metavante has yet to go through, FIS predicts the acquisition will increase revenues due to the selling of services and software to Metavante's former clients.^[15] The acquisition has yet to go through however as both Metavante and FIS have faced stockholder lawsuits relating to the deal. ^[16]

Business and Financial Metrics

FIS posted consolidated revenue of $3.4 B in the 2008 fiscal year, an 18% increase from the previous fiscal year. This growth was spurred on by a 15% growth in its Financial Solutions segment, an 18% growth in its Payment Solutions segment, and a 23% growth in its International segment though the sources of its recurring revenue streams have not changed significantly.^[17] (See Business Segments for further explanation.)

Quarterly Results

FIS' consolidated revenue fell 3.2% in the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year from last year (Q1 2008).^[18] This decrease was due to revenue drops in all business segments. FIS' Financial Solutions segment's revenue fell 3.2%, partially due to a decrease in discretionary software purchases.^[19] Revenue in FIS' Payment Solutions segment fell by 2.3%, due to a 15% ($10 M) decrease in retail check services that was partially offset by a 2.3% increase in card transactions.^[20] FIS' International segment was the least impacted however, seeing an 8.3% decrease in revenues that was largely due to unfavorable currency exchange rates.^[21]

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Business Segments

FIS is divided into 3 business segments: payment solutions, financial solutions, and international. Payment solutions includes its electronic funds transfer as well as its card and checking services. FIS' financial solutions segment includes its core processing services and its risk management and fraud detection software. Finally, international includes FIS' outsourcing services and includes all transaction done with international and foreign institutions.

Payment Solutions (44% of revenue, 46% of operating income^[30])

FIS largest business segment, payment solutions, focuses on providing payment and electronic fund transfer services to its clients.^[31] Payment solutions' largest service is its electronic funds transfer (EFT) service, allowing consumers and institutions alike to move money electronically, making electronic banking and online bill payment possible.^[32] The segment also includes card services, which allow institutions to issue debit and credit cards as well as prepaid cards to consumers and businesses.^[33] Finally, the segment also includes check authorization services to help institutions detect fraud and clear checks.^[34][35] Revenue from its operations increased from $1.3 billion in 2007 to over $1.5 billion in 2008.^[36] This increase in revenue was due to the increased client list as a result of the eFunds acquisition.^[37]

Financial Solutions (34% of revenue, 47% of operating income^[39])

FIS’ financial solutions segment offers risk management and fraud detection software to organizations such as banks,credit unions, and savings institutions.^[40] Applications such as its syndicated loan applications and automotive finance applications allow financial institutions to quickly evaluate credit risk, streamlining the loan application process. Applications such as its core processing applications and channel solutions help institutions streamline consumer interaction in all its channels (e.g ATM, internet, branch offices etc.) as well as allow the institutions to manage everyday deposits and its current loans. FIS' decision solutions and risk manage software help institutions detect both loan and account fraud as well as asses the risk of opening an account. Revenues from this segment have grown from just over 1 B in 2007 to over 1.15B in 2008.^[41] The eFunds acquisition allowed for economies of scale , allowing FIS to increase its operating margin and thus its revenue.^[42]

International (22% of revenue, 7% of operating income^[44])

FIS' international segment offers the services and software in the financial and payment solutions segments to foreign companies. In addition, FIS offers outsourcing services as well.^[45]

As of the 2008 fiscal year, FIS has a presence in over 90 countries, being the third largest credit card processor in Brazil and a leading provider of core processing services in Europe and Asia.^[46] The company's largest sales region comes from the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) making up 42% of revenues with Asia Pacific and Latin America making up 39% and 19% of sales respectively. Revenues from this business segment increased from 618 M in 2007 to 759 M in 2008.^[47] This increase in revenue was largely due to FIS' 2007 eFunds acquisition (which contributed $41.5 M to segment revenue) along with its Brazilian Venture investments (which contributed $87.7 M to segment revenue).^[48]

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Trends and Forces

FIS' high client retention rate to increase card transaction services revenue

FIS traditionally has had a strong client retention rate and expects an increase in revenue from its card transaction services as its existing clients continue to contract services to FIS rather than its competitors.^[51] As debit card transactions increase (market research firm Packaged Facts projects debit card transaction volume to reach $2 trillion by 2010, more than double the 2005 volume of $907 billion), there will an increased demand for card transaction services from financial institutions. FIS expects increased revenues from its card transaction services as it picks up the increased need for such services from its existing clients.

FIS to benefit from increased financial services outsourcing

FIS expects an increase in demand for its outsourcing services as more [[financial institutions] begin to outsource with higher expectations of returns. Accounting Firm Deloitte predicts that by 2010, $400 billion or 25% of the costs in the financial service industry will be offshore, more than twice the amount in 2005.^[52] While more financial institutions are projected to begin outsourcing services to reduce costs, Deloitte also predicts that they will expect more returns. ^[53] FIS’ acquisition of companies that specialize in outsourcing solutions such as Aurum Tech, Sanchez Computer Associates, and eFunds has given it more resources and control over the outsourcing process as well as the scale required to reduce costs, factors that FIS expects will cause financial institutions to pick FIS over its competitors as more of them begin to consider outsourcing.

FIS client list to shrink due to the 2008 Financial Crisis

The 2008 financial crisis will likely cause FIS to see a shrink in its client list and thus its revenues. The 2008 financial crisis has caused 46 banks to fail and over 67% of current assets to become held by only 6 banks.^[54][55] FIS has already seen a decrease in demand for its software applications in the first quarter of the 2009 fiscal year, though it predicts that this decrease in demand will only have a half a percent effect on total revenues.^[56] More importantly, FIS will likely see its larger clients stop using FIS’ core processing and card transaction services as they gain economies of scale and find it cheaper to do internally, the services that it originally contracted to FIS.

Competition

As a technology and services firm, FIS faces competition from financial services firms offering the same services as FIS. Direct competitors include FIS' industry rivals Fiserv, SunGard, Misys, First Data Inc, Online Resources (ORCC), and Global Payments (GPN).^[57] Indirect competition comes from such sources as financial institution's and retailer's internal departments, third party payment processors, and large data processing and software development companies (like IBM).^[58]

Fiserv (FISV): Fiserv is a fortune 500 company offering information management systems and services to financial and insurance industries and FIS' main domestic competitor. Its leading services include transaction processing, outsourcing, and software and systems solutions.^[60] Though it has lost its title of largest provider of information technology services worldwide, losing out to FIS, it still has a dominant portion of credit processing market.^[61] It is currently the second largest provider of technology services worldwide with over 4.7 Billion in total revenues for the 2009 fiscal year. ^[62]

SunGard: SunGard is a privately held fortune 500 company that offers a wide range of software and continuity-assurance services to companies. The company is best known for its disaster recovery division, which it helped pioneer. SunGard brought in over $5.9 B in revenues for the 2009 fiscal year.^[63]

Misys (LON:MSY): Misys offers broker systems and outsourcing services as well as transaction processing. It also offers risk management programs to insurance and financial companies.^[64] It made over $7 B dollars in the 2008 fiscal year.^[65]

First Data Inc: A privately traded company, First Data Inc provides e-commerce and merchant transaction and fraud detection services. First Data gets its revenue from merchant transaction processing services; card offerings, private-label, gift, and payroll offerings; fraud protection and authentication solutions; electronic check acceptance services; and Internet commerce and mobile payment solutions.^[66] Formed in 1969, posted $2.1 billion in revenues in Q1 2009.^[67] First Data's main competitor is Total System Services (TSS).

Online Resources (ORCC): ORCC offers electronic payment solutions to financial institutions, helping banks streamline their online services.^[68] ORCC posted 39.2 million in revenues in Q1 2009

Global Payments (GPN): GPN offers card processing services to small business. GPN posted $405.8 million in revenues for Q1 2009. ^[69]

References

1. ↑ FIS to Acquire Metavante
2. ↑ FIS 2008 Letter to Shareholders
3. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 1
4. ↑ FIS Letter to Stockholders Page 1
5. ↑ FIS 2008 Annual Report Page 20,21
6. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k page 3
7. ↑ FIS Timeline
8. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 4-8
9. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 4,5
10. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 6
11. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 7-8
12. ↑ FIS Report
13. ↑ FIS to buy eFunds
14. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k pg 25
15. ↑ FIS to Acquire Metavante
16. ↑ Reuters FIS newsfeed
17. ↑ FIS Letter to Stockholders Page 1
18. ↑ FIS 2009 Q1 Earnings Report Page 6
19. ↑ FIS 2009 Q1 Earnings Report Page 10
20. ↑ FIS 2009 Q1 Earnings Report Page 11
21. ↑ FIS 2009 Q1 Earnings Report Page 13
22. ↑ FIS 2007 Investor Presentation page 131
23. ↑ FIS 2007 Investor Presentation page 131
24. ↑ FIS 2007 Investor Presentation page 133
25. ↑ FIS 2008 Investor Presentation page 7
26. ↑ FIS 2008 Investor Presentation page 7
27. ↑ FIS 2008 Investor Presentation page 9
28. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 4,24,25
29. ↑ FIS 2008 Investor Day Presentation Page 130
30. ↑ FIS Annual Report Page 4
31. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 80
32. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 80
33. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 80
34. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 80
35. ↑ FIS Annual Report Page 4
36. ↑ FIS Annual Report Page 4,5
37. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 27
38. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 4, 27
39. ↑ FIS Annual Report Page 4
40. ↑ FIS Annual Report Page 4
41. ↑ FIS Annual Report Page 4
42. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 27
43. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 4, 27
44. ↑ FIS Annual Report Page 4
45. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 8,9
46. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 8
47. ↑ FIS Annual Report Page 4
48. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 28
49. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 4, 27, 28
50. ↑ FIS 2008 Letter to Stockholders Page 9
51. ↑ FIS 2008 Annual Report Page 20
52. ↑ Outsourcing in Financial Services Page 8
53. ↑ Deloitte: Outsourcing Delivers 25% ROI
54. ↑ Bank Consolidation: More Stability Now for Oligopoly Later?
55. ↑ Bank Consolidation: More Stability Now for Oligopoly Later?
56. ↑ FIS 2008 Annual Report Page 20,21
57. ↑ Yahoo Finance Competitors to FIS
58. ↑ FIS 2008 10-k Page 7
59. ↑ Yahoo Finance Competitors to FIS
60. ↑ Fiserv 2007 10-k
61. ↑ FinTech 2007 Survey
62. ↑ Fiserv 2007 10-k
63. ↑ 2009 Fortune 500 Companies
64. ↑ Hoover's Company Profile
65. ↑ Misys Yahoo Income Statement
66. ↑ First Data Wikipedia Article
67. ↑ First Data: $2.1Billion Q1 Revenue
68. ↑ ORCC Products
69. ↑ GPN Q1 2009 Report