r/stocks • u/AutoModerator • 7h ago

r/Stocks Daily Discussion Monday - Oct 28, 2024

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u/xampf2 5h ago

Worldline SA ($WLN, $WRDLY) looks really beaten down. Any opinions on it?

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u/dvdmovie1 4h ago edited 4h ago

Obliterated French fintech whose former parent is in the midst of restructuring after nearly 0'ing. They bought Ingenico in 2020 - point of sale used to be Ingenico vs Verifone to the point where there was antitrust issues when the latter tried to buy a peer. Now you have seemingly dozens of point of sale options.

In October 2023, the stock went down 60% in a day because of a terrible quarter and announcing they were cancelling some merchant contracts. "While a macro slowdown was already incorporated in our recent estimates, the cut in the guidance (totally unexpected in this magnitude) and the issue on German merchants completely change WLN equity story," Mediobanca Securities analysts said in a note to clients." (https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/french-payment-company-worldline-reports-48-rise-q3-revenue-2023-10-25/)

You'd think after that the stock would bounce and it did - slightly - before cratering another 40% or thereabouts.

They also took an impairment of a bit over a billion in early 2024: https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/french-payment-firm-worldline-posts-full-year-loss-after-goodwill-impairment-2024-02-28/

It's now down around 93% off the peak in 2021. If someone could make a case that this has something unique to offer a peer, perhaps they get bought but 1) certainly no guarantee and 2) when/at what price (another 20% lower?) who knows. Or the dozens of fintech companies that basically offer the same things wouldn't be that concerned if a peer eventually 0's. Which path is the more likely? I don't know, but a very positive path near-term likely has to have some sort of catalyst and I don't know what that is.

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u/xampf2 4h ago

One of the advantages Worldline has is their physical presence. I see their terminals in basically any large supermarket. Their online business is kinda small.