Seeking Alpha: Vistaprint Still Consistently Inconsistent

Bullish sell-side analysts have long pushed Vistaprint N.V. (VPRT) as a way to play growth in small businesses and the advantages of online/web-based disintermediation in bringing more sophisticated marketing tools to the SMB sector. It all sounds good (it always has), but Vistaprint seems stuck in this yo-yo business model where sustainable, balanced growth seems elusive.

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Vistaprint Still Consistently Inconsistent

Seeking Alpha: VeriFone's New Management Says The Right Things, But Execution Is Key

Say what you like about sell-side research, it can at least tell you which way the wind is blowing about a particular stock. When it comes to VeriFone (PAY), analysts seem eager to forgive-and-forget and buy into the story of a strong turnaround in the making. Given how the stock has been performing, I'd say that investors are taking a similar viewpoint.

I still have my doubts. I like the hire the company made for the CEO position, and I've liked what I've heard from him so far in terms of strategy, but two troubling facts remain. First, mobile payment options are changing the electronic payments world. Second, Ingenico (OTCPK:INGIY) as capitalized on VeriFone's missteps to gain share, and has no plans to let up. I've substantially upgraded my growth expectations in light of the new CEO, but even with that I don't see these shares as a must-own on a GARP basis.

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VeriFone's New Management Says The Right Things, But Execution Is Key

Seeking Alpha: NCR Hits The Throttle On Its Transformation Plan

Short of a name change, it's likely going to take a long time before investors stop thinking of NCR (NCR) primarily as a manufacturer of ATMs and retail self check-out kiosks. After all, that's what we all see on a day to day basis when we go to the bank or a store. There's a great deal more to the story, though, as NCR has invested significantly in its services and software capabilities.

With the acquisitions of Digital Insight and Alaric Systems, announced on Monday evening, NCR has significantly accelerated that transition towards a service and software-oriented company. The deals are expensive in terms of multiples, but the potential from operating synergies, cross-selling, and addressable market expansion make them worthwhile. While there are areas of sluggishness in the financial and retail spaces that threaten near-term performance, I believe these shares of NCR remain meaningfully undervalued in a market that offers few of those opportunities.

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NCR Hits The Throttle On Its Transformation Plan

Seeking Alpha: Heartland Payment's New Ventures Make Sense, But Mind The Multiples

With the markets up as much as they are over the past two years, it's not so surprising that there are a lot of stories out there along the lines of "it's a good company and they have a good plan, but be careful about the valuation".

Payment processing service provider Heartland Payments (HPY) definitely fits that description for me. I believe the company's direct sales force and uncommon transparency give it an edge in the processing space. Likewise, I believe the company's forays into newer businesses like payroll and education-related processing can generate worthwhile returns. I just question whether there's a lot of loose change left in the couch for a stock that is up more than 100% over the past two years and trading a little rich relative to its growth.

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Heartland Payment's New Ventures Make Sense, But Mind The Multiples

Seeking Alpha: Wall Street Too Eager To Believe In VeriFone's Turnaround

I have thought for some time now that Wall Street badly wants to believe that VeriFone (PAY) can turn around its business, and the reaction to the company's third quarter earnings backs that up. VeriFone went out of its way to lower the hurdle for this quarter - to a point where a gopher could clear it - but pre-market indications on the stock seem to suggest that this was a meaningful beat for the company. Suffice it to say, I'm not a VeriFone bull. I believe the right CEO hire could make a real difference here, but even a 10% growth estimate doesn't point to much value.

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Wall Street Too Eager To Believe In VeriFone's Turnaround

Investopedia: Workday Working Some Major Market Mojo

One way or another, Workday (Nasdaq:WDAY) is going to be a fun stock to watch. Investors angered by the rich valuations once awarded to Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), and there certainly were plenty of them, are probably going to be apoplectic over the valuation on the shares of this fast-growing SaaS enterprise software vendor. Although I can't conceive of a credible scenario in which these shares look anything close to fairly valued, I do believe the company will be quite successful and the interplay between the company's rapid growth and share gains in the enterprise resource management/planning (ERM/ERP) market and its valuation in the stock market will be very interesting to watch over the next few years.

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http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/082013/workday-working-some-major-market-mojo-wday-orcl-sap-msft.aspx

Investopedia: eBay Seems Undervalued, But Wall Street Will Need Convincing

It has to be a source of frustration to some investors that Amazon (Nasdaq:AMZN) can basically ignore margins and cash flow and get away with it, while eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY) delivers double-digit returns on invested capital and ample free cash flow and doesn't seem to get the same love. Given that the company is likely looking at years of ongoing investments to grow its payments business, that may not change right away. Even so, eBay looks like an underrated cash flow generator, with ample balance sheet flexibility to make additional strategic moves and/or return cash to shareholders.

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http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/071813/ebay-seems-undervalued-wall-street-will-need-convincing-ebay-amzn-pay-intu-aapl.aspx

Investopedia: Paychex Still Muddling Through

It has been about a year since I last wrote on Paychex (Nasdaq:PAYX). Back in 2012, I suggested that the Fed's actions to stimulate the economy weren't going to have a tremendous impact on employment, nor lead to a big turnaround in Paychex's fortunes. A year later that prediction seems to have worked out, as the company continues to muddle through a weak payroll growth environment in its core small/medium-sized business (SMB) market. While efforts to build up the HR services side of the business should pay off, and payroll will recover at some point, it still would seem that the Street is much too willing to price a strong recovery into these shares.

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http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/062713/paychex-still-muddling-through-payx-intu-orcl-sap.aspx

Investopedia: Wall Street Clearly Underestimating VeriFone's Struggles

Going into this quarter, Wall Street wanted to buy into the idea of a VeriFone (NYSE:PAY) turnaround. Not only were the shares up more than 20% from their low, but the earnings estimate revisions had been pretty mild despite strong share gains at rival Ingenico (Nasdaq:INGIY). Last and not least, instead of being worried about further gains from next-gen payment rivals like eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY), Intuit (Nasdaq:INTU), and Square, many sell-side analysts were speculating as to who was going to buy VeriFone to accelerate their market growth.

Fiscal second quarter results are going to throw a bucket of ice water on a lot of that optimism. Not only are the share losses to Ingenico (and other providers) becoming more apparent, but customer dissatisfaction and industry pricing pressures are looming larger. I won't rule out the possibility that the right CEO hire and the development of a stronger value-added service portfolio could lead to an eventual turnaround at VeriFone, but it's very clearly going to take some time for that to happen.

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Investopedia: Can Intuit Get Back Into Wall Street's Good Graces?

For a company to not be taking part in this strong bull market, particularly when its revenue and earnings are growing, tells you something about how the Street views the company. Intuit (Nasdaq:INTU) may have once been a growth stock darling, but those days are past, as investors and analysts appear much more concerned about the company's consumer tax business than its long-term growth potential in small business services. I continue to believe that these shares are undervalued, but investors may have to wait a bit for that value to develop.

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http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/052213/can-intuit-get-back-wall-streets-good-graces-intu-payx-hrb-ctct-et.aspx

Investopedia: Core Growth At Wells Fargo Is Weak, But The Multiple Doesn't Look Demanding

During bull markets, investors typically prize growth more than anything and that would seem to explain a lot of the relative valuations I'm seeing in the banking sector these days. To wit, investors don't seem nearly as concerned about quality or long-term business prospects as the they do about the near-term growth and capital returns potential. That may be frustrating for Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) shareholders in the short term, but I think it does leave some long-term potential in the shares today.

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Seeking Alpha: VeriFone Takes A Big Swing

While investors in VeriFone (PAY) may feel that the board of directors has tolerated operational mistakes for too long already, a far more definite move was made on Monday. After the close, the company announced that CEO Doug Bergeron is stepping down immediately from his role as CEO and leaving the board of directors. This move certainly brings closure to an executive tenure that had recently turned sour, but it also increases the uncertainty of the company's near-term trajectory. On a longer term basis there would seem to be value in the shares, but there's an uncomfortable amount of hope in that thesis.

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VeriFone Takes A Big Swing

Seeking Alpha: Ingenico Seems To Be Gaining An Edge In Payments

Credit and debit card transactions only continue to grow, but investors have clearly tired of VeriFone's (PAY) uninspiring performance and management missteps. That leaves investors looking to payment processors like Heartland Payment Systems (HPY) or Global Payments (GPN) to play the trend, or European payment and security companies like Gemalto (GTOMY.PK) and VeriFone's co-duopolist Ingenico (INGIY.PK). Unfortunately, not unlike VeriFone a little while ago, it looks like the market already expects a very full growth outlook for Ingenico.

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Ingenico Seems To Be Gaining An Edge In Payments

Seeking Alpha: VeriFone Now A Falling Knife

Questioning the valuation of a growth stock is a good way to fill up your inbox with hostile emails, but VeriFone (PAY) is offering up a case study in why valuation always matters. While the company is still growing, and still has an attractive global market opportunity, multiple missteps have led to a one-two punch of lower estimates and substantially lower multiples on those estimates. Although these shares may finally be resetting to a point where the valuation makes it appealing, management is going to have a long road back to reestablishing credibility with the Street.

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VeriFone Now A Falling Knife

Investopedia: VeriFone Loses The Tailwind Again

Something is going on with VeriFone (NYSE:PAY), and it's not good. Not only is the stock well off its highs, but whatever momentum that the company had gained since its fiscal third quarter miss is likely to evaporate with another miss. Although I don't think VeriFone is a fundamentally flawed business, it may well be transitioning away from that phase of its corporate life where investors look past almost any bad news in the pursuit of growth.

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http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/VeriFone-Loses-The-Tailwind-Again-PAY-INTU-NCR-BKS1214.aspx

Investopedia: Will QE3 Give Paychex More Than it Takes Away?

When you're in the business of processing payrolls for small employers, a weak job market is a definite limitation on growth. Paychex (Nasdaq:PAYX) has been muddling through this period of weak job creation, and now there is a new Federal Reserve stimulus program specifically targeting job growth and employment. It's an open question as to whether this stimulus will succeed, but it's a near-certainty that low rates will continue to pressure Paychex's ability to wring profits from its float. That sets up Paychex for a high-quality but growth-poor play on improved employment, and an expensive one at that.

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http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Will-The-Third-Round-Of-Quantitative-Easing-Give-Paychex-More-Than-It-Takes-Away-PAYX-ADP-INTU-CTAS0925.aspx

Investopedia: Intuit Still Looks Underrated

Even if the long-term plan is sound, confusing the Street can carry real near-term costs. Consequently, I wonder if Intuit's (Nasdaq:INTU) decision to shuffle some of its operations has cost it some valuation. Then again, the stock has been pretty strong this year and is less than 10% of its 52-week high, even though its core small/medium-sized business (SMB) market is not exactly back in full health. Whatever the case may be, I think there is still a valid long-term thesis for buying or holding Intuit shares, and I think the stock looks undervalued relative to its quality.

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Intuit-Still-Looks-Underrated--INTU-PAYX-HRB-ORCL0827.aspx

Investopedia: ADP A-OK ... And Everybody Knows It

As I've said recently in relation to McDonald's (NYSE:MCD), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Nestle (OTCBB:NSRGY), top-notch companies are a mixed blessing for investors - great to hold for years at a time once you own them, but very hard to ever buy at a notable discount. Automatic Data Processing (Nasdaq:ADP) fits that bill as well, as even the most negative or bearish analysts still seem to go out of their way to affirm their respect for the company, its strategy and management.

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/ADP-A-OK--And-Everyone-Knows-It-ADP-PAYX-INTU-ATHN0504.aspx

Investopedia: Green Dot Flashing Yellow

I'm not exactly sure why, but specialty finance seems to have more than its share of flash-in-the-pan growth stocks that come out of nowhere, post a couple of years of great growth, and then all but disappear from the scene. The risk of a repeat performance seems to weigh on the shares of Green Dot (NYSE:GDOT), as many analysts project robust revenue and free cash flow growth, but seem to take a "no, you first" mentality to the stock.

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Green-Dot-Flashing-Yellow-GDOT-INTU-WMT-AXP0430.aspx

Investopedia: Is Paychex A Small Business Annuity?

Slowly and maybe not entirely surely, business conditions are getting better. That's good news for Paychex (Nasdaq:PAYX), as this company needs a healthy small business environment to continue it growth plans. While results are decent and there are still growth opportunities for the company, oncoming competition and international expansion both look like increasingly relevant factors.

Decent Q3 Results
Paychex reported that revenue rose 7% for the fiscal third quarter, with organic revenue growth of 5%. Payroll services revenue grew 5% (4% organically) as checks-per-client rose almost 2%. HR services rose 12% (10% organic), and the company continues to see good growth in services like employee health and benefits. Earnings from the interest carry continue to be limited by the low rate environment, as the average interest rate fell 30 basis points and interest from client funds declined 7%.

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http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Is-Paychex-A-Small-Business-Annuity-PAYX-ADP-INTU-BAC0330.aspx