Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) is really no longer the plucky up-and-comer. It's getting to the point where merchant acceptance of the Discover card is much more common than not, and the company is certainly a viable alternative to American Express (NYSE:AXP) when it comes to closed-loop systems. That said, the company still lags MasterCard (NYSE:MA) and Visa (NYSE:V) meaningfully, and investors have to balance out the potential benefits of future growth and M&A with the credit risks inherent to the business model.
A Solid End to the Year
Discover's fiscal fourth quarter results ended the year on a relatively strong note. Revenue rose 13% as reported, with net revenue rising almost 23% from the year-ago level. Although the company's net interest income and margin was a little sluggish, that had a lot to do with student loans that the company acquired. Other metrics were pretty solid; receivables were up about 1%, credit card loans were up 3% and card sales volume was up 8% from last year.
Read the full piece here:
http://stocks.investopedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment