Key Takeaways
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Global Payments shares jumped 11% today on a report that CD&R and GTCR are working on a buyout.
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The reported $40 billion roughly matches Global Payments' value before today, debt included, so the price is still unknown.
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The stock trades well below its usual forward P/E but carries 4.0x net debt to EBITDA.
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Fiserv and PayPal trade cheaply too, and Global Payments reports its third quarter next week.
Global Payments ( GPN:NYSE )stock jumped 11% today after the Financial Times reported that private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is pursuing a buyout with GTCR, Global Payments' largest shareholder.
Fiserv ( FISV:NASDAQ )and PayPal ( PYPL:NASDAQ )both rose modestly on the news too.
The $40 billion includes the debt
Before today's jump, Global Payments' shares were worth about $23 billion, and it carries more than $17 billion of net debt: roughly $40 billion together.
No price has been reported, though any deal would reportedly carry a premium.
GTCR sold Worldpay to Global Payments for more than $24 billion in 2025. Now the firm that knows Worldpay best reportedly wants the whole company.
Cheap enough to tempt a buyer
Analysts expect Global Payments' normalized EPS to climb from $12.22 in 2025 to $18.84 by 2028:
A buyout report shouldn't move those estimates, but next week's results could.
Yet investors paid just 5.8x forward earnings at yesterday's close, against a five-year average of 9.3x:
Even after today's jump, it's under 7x.
Debt is the catch. Net debt was 4.0x EBITDA at the end of 2025:
A buyout would stack more on top.
Fiserv and PayPal look cheap too
If buyout firms want a processor at 6x earnings, they have options.
Fiserv trades at just 6.6x forward earnings, but in August it guided for 2026 organic revenue between a 1% decline and flat, a tougher pitch to a buyer than Global Payments' growing earnings.
PayPal, at 9.7x, raised its full-year non-GAAP EPS outlook to about $5.60, from about $5.38, on Oct. 27, though third-quarter net revenue grew just 2%. That's under 10x earnings for a company raising its outlook.
TIKR tracks 37 analysts on Global Payments. How many say "Buy"?
See the full breakdown of Buy, Hold, and Sell ratings on Global Payments, along with Wall Street's revenue and earnings estimates, all in one place. More than 500,000 investors use TIKR to research stocks like this one. See Global Payments' Analyst Ratings
Next week matters
Global Payments reports next week, when management may address the talks.
The way I see it, a growing business at under 7x earnings is exactly what buyout firms want. But today's price assumes a bid above $40 billion, and if the talks fall apart, much of the jump could vanish.
So what is Global Payments stock actually worth if the deal doesn't go through?
TIKR lets you forecast the future price of any stock in less than a minute. Just enter a few assumptions into TIKR's valuation model and see what Global Payments could be worth. Start from Wall Street consensus estimates, or adjust the inputs to reflect your own view of the business. It's free to use.
