Shift4 Payments accused of ‘aggressive financial maneuvers’ in short report

In a new short report published on its website, Blue Orca accused Shift4 Payments of "aggressive financial maneuvers mask a company that is far less profitable and less cash generative, and far more levered, than investors are led to believe." The firm accuses Shift4 of being "a roll-up of low-tech POS systems and payment processors which is substantially less profitable, generates far less cash, and is materially more levered" than it acknowledges and believes that its CEO "faced the threat of a margin call from an unusually large series of stock pledges" as the stock fell during 2022. This situation created "an existential threat that he would be forced to liquidate up to 10 million shares (12% of diluted shares outstanding)," the firm argues in its report. See today’s best-performing stocks on TipRanks >>

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• Shift4 Payments upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at SMBC Nikko