Shift4 Payments downgraded to Hold at Benchmark after NASA nom for CEO

Benchmark downgraded Shift4 Payments (FOUR) to Hold from Buy and removed the firm’s prior price target on the shares after founder and CEO Jared Isaacman was nominated yesterday by President-elect Trump to be the next Administrator of NASA. While the firm believes Shift4’s end-to-end integrated payment solution for restaurants, hotels, stadiums, e-commerce, and other verticals remains well positioned to gain traction in the U.S. and Europe, it views Isaacman’s pending departure as “representing the realization of the key person risk” that has been one of the company’s primary vulnerabilities since it went public. His acceptance of the nomination to lead NASA leaves significant uncertainty regarding the company’s ability to execute its strategy as effectively as it has until now and the firm sees stock likely entering a “range-bound period” given the uncertainty.