FISV - Fiserv upgraded to Outperform at Evercore as it disrupts the disruptors

Evercore ISI analyst David Togut upgraded payments technology company Fiserv ( NASDAQ: FISV ) to Outperform from In Line as its new growth playbook "turns the tables on its disruptive competitors."

"The new FISV invests more, acquires more, and occasionally shaves FCF (free cash flow) targets to sustain higher organic revenue and earnings growth from its Merchant Acceptance and Payments & Networks businesses," the analyst wrote in a note to clients.

Its historically successful playbook focused on maximizing FCF and buying back 6% of stock annually.

As a result, Fiserv ( FISV ) has been "winning more with growth, scale and finally cash flow to fund innovation and acquisitions, just as the increasing cost of capital forces the opposition to exercise newfound expense discipline and conserve cash," Togut said.

If there's no recession this year, Fiserv ( FISV ) earnings this year could perform in the upper half of its 16%-17% adjusted EPS growth guidance range, he added.

FISV shares gained 1.7% in Thursday early afternoon trading.

The SA Quant rating, at Buy , agrees with Togut as does the average Wall Street rating .

Recall that last month Fiserv ( FISV ) boosted revenue guidance after its Q2 revenue and earnings beat Wall Street estimates.

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