We recently published a list of 10 Best Affordable Tech Stocks To Invest In Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) stands against the other best affordable tech stocks to invest in now.
What's Happening in the Technology Sector?
The US tech stocks have recently faced significant pressure, contributing to a decline in major stock indexes amid ongoing discussions about tariffs. Semiconductors is one of the segments facing a downturn. Jeff deGraaf, Renaissance Macro Research chairman, joined CNBC on November 17 to talk about the state of semiconductors. deGraaf thinks that the rally as it stands today is somewhat overbought internally. This means that while the overall market may be experiencing upward movement, there are underlying signs that it may not be sustainable. An overbought condition typically indicates that asset prices have risen too quickly and may be due for a correction. However, deGraaf also mentioned that the current market is a trend market, not a momentum market, which suggests price movements are driven by broader economic trends and fundamental factors rather than short-term speculative trading. He notes that after the recent elections, there was no significant change in market momentum. This stability reinforces his view that the market has achieved escape velocity, indicating that it is positioned to continue its upward trend despite potential challenges.
He mentioned that the market is still tilted towards cyclical rather than defensive stocks. However, the situation is tricky as semiconductors are experiencing a downturn, which is a huge cyclical industry group. While the semiconductors have been down the software sector has been up on a relative basis. deGraaf noted that he wants to rotate out semiconductors broadly. While elaborating further he mentioned that his statement is based on relative performance, which is very crucial from an investment perspective. He added that except for a few names the semis have the worst momentum and long-term trend strength in the broad market. deGraaf pointed out that NVIDIA has been an exception to its group let alone the greater market, and for that reason, he also wants to avoid the semiconductor giant and rotate out of semis broadly.
Lastly, he pointed out the software group, saying that a lot of software names are improving and he thinks it makes sense to reallocate dollars to software companies as they have some good momentum.
Moreover, in one of our recent pieces, titled "10 Most Promising New Technology Stocks According to Hedge Funds", we discussed how AI application across various sectors is expected to boost technology IPOs during the year. Here's an excerpt from the article:
After a prolonged slump, the technology IPO is experiencing a revival in 2024, particularly among companies leveraging artificial intelligence. According to a July 10 report by Morgan Stanley, the firm’s bankers predict to see at least 10 to 15 tech IPOs this year, driven by the growing interest in AI applications across various sectors, especially within technology and healthcare.
A payment terminal in action with customers apart of the experience.
Our Methodology
To compile the list of the 10 best affordable tech stocks to invest in now, we used the Finviz stock screener, Yahoo Finance, and Seeking Alpha. Using the screener we shortlisted technology stocks trading below the Forward P/E of 15 and whose earnings are expected to grow during the year. Next, we sorted our initial list by market capitalization and cross-checked the Forward P/E of each stock from Seeking Alpha and earnings growth from Yahoo Finance. Lastly, we ranked the stocks in ascending order of the number of hedge fund holders as per Insider Monkey’s database for Q3 2024.
Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) is a payments technology company that specializes in providing software and services for processing payments. It operates mainly through two segments: Merchant Solutions and Issuer Solutions.
Management has a clear focus on strengthening its market share in the small and medium-sized businesses sector. This strategy has proved to work well for the company as it has maintained high customer retention rates for its Merchant Solutions segment, particularly in North America, where customers have been using its services for over 6 years.
During the third quarter of fiscal 2024, Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) grew its adjusted revenue by 6% year-over-year to reach $2.4 billion. Its revenue growth was driven by consistent growth in both its segments. While the Issuer Segment revenue grew 2%, the Merchant segment took the lead by improving more than 7% during the same time.
Looking ahead management expects revenue growth between 6% to 7% for the fiscal year 2024, with 100% free cash flow conversion. It is one of the best affordable tech stocks to invest in now.
Weitz Large Cap Equity Fund stated the following regarding Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“We continued to increase the Fund’s positions in Global Payments Inc. (NYSE:GPN) and Idex Corp. during the quarter. Both stocks trade at significant discounts to our business value estimates. The companies have fundamental catalysts that could drive the stocks, but the timetable may have slipped a bit. The challenge is that investors want results now, especially in a bull market. We have specific milestones to track, and we think their achievement can be measured in quarters rather than years. In our view, the potential payoffs are well worth the wait.”
Overall, GPN ranks 4th on our list of best affordable tech stocks to invest in now. While we acknowledge the potential of GPN to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than GPN but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
