Shift4 Payments, Inc. (FOUR)

Key figures

The last twelve months reported, with the latest price and balance sheet.

Revenue, last twelve months

$4.8B

Revenue growth

32.4%

Net income, last twelve months

$105.3M

Gross margin

35.9%

Operating margin

8.1%

Net margin

2.2%

Free cash flow

$572.9M

Return on equity

6.5%

Market value

$3.0B

Cash

$356.0M

Debt

$4.5B

Debt to equity

2.79

Shares outstanding

79.0M

Financial statements

Revenue, profit and cash flow by fiscal year, each year linked to its annual report.

By quarter

What the company said with its results

From the second quarter of 2026 results, filed 6 August 2026.

• Gross revenue and gross profit rose. Organic GRLNF growth, excluding acquisitions and divestitures, was 11%.
• Adjusted EBITDA rose while net income fell. Net income was $24 million, against $41 million a year earlier, and GAAP diluted EPS was $0.08, against $0.32.
• Non-GAAP EPS reached $1.32. Non-GAAP EPS was up from $1.10 a year earlier, on a non-GAAP share count of 90 million.
• Tax-free shopping contributed $117 million. Tax-free shopping revenue was $117 million, against none in the prior-year quarter.
• Acquisitions added $173 million to GRLNF. Acquisitions contributed $173 million of GRLNF, including $117 million from tax-free shopping and $43 million of payments-based GRLNF.
• Subscription and other grew 8%. Organic subscription and other revenue declined 1% to $92 million; acquisitions added $13 million to the line.
• Ex-Americas payments grew faster. Year to date, payments-based GRLNF grew 17% in the Americas and 52% in worldwide ex-Americas.
• Shift4 One expanding across Europe. Shift4 One combines payments, tax-free shopping and dynamic currency conversion in one handheld device, now used by luxury retail SMBs in Europe.
• Shift4 Dine opened in two markets. Shift4 Dine launched in Spain and Australia; the company also released multi-location enhancements and a quick-service feature set for Shift4 Dine.
• Payment application and DCC released. The company released a next-generation payment application and terminal management software, and added AI-powered propensity models to its tax-free shopping platform.
• Restaurant share gains continue. Management said it continues to gain restaurant market share and ranks #2 in US restaurants, #1 in US hospitality and #1 in US sports and entertainment.
• Adjusted EBITDA margin was 46%. Margin is Adjusted EBITDA divided by GRLNF. The prior-year quarter was higher and the first quarter of 2026 was lower.
• Cost of sales and G&A rose. Cost of sales rose to $849 million from $674 million, while general and administrative expenses also rose.
• Interest expense more than doubled. Interest expense was $65 million, against $39 million, and interest income fell to $3 million from $19 million.

Revenue by segment

As the company reports it in the segment note of its annual report.

By product, FY2025

By region, FY2025

Company events

The newest 8-K filings of 84 held.

Every filing

The newest filings with the SEC of 188 held.

Insider trades

Form 4 trades by officers, directors and 10% owners, last 12 months.

Planned insider sales

Form 144 notices, filed when the sell order goes to the broker.

Large holders

Schedule 13D and 13G filings by holders of more than 5% of the voting shares.

Trades by members of the House

From each member's periodic transaction report.

Short interest

Shares sold short and not yet bought back, on each FINRA settlement date.

Funds that hold it

From each fund's latest Form 13F.

418 funds held it at 30 Jun 2026: 173 added and 146 trimmed in the quarter. The largest:

Peers

Companies in the same industry.

• Visa Inc. (V): revenue $44.5B, market value $761.1B
• Mastercard Inc. (MA): revenue $35.1B, market value $539.5B
• Alibaba Group Holding Limited (BABA): revenue $144.2B, market value $234.6B
• Accenture plc (ACN): revenue $74.2B, market value $147.6B
• Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER): revenue $55.2B, market value $133.2B
• PDD Holdings Inc. (PDD): revenue $60.1B, market value $110.3B
• MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI): revenue $35.2B, market value $84.8B
• DoorDash, Inc. (DASH): revenue $15.9B, market value $74.5B
• RELX PLC (RELX): revenue $12.7B, market value $70.5B
• Ebay Inc. (EBAY): revenue $12.0B, market value $52.5B

What the company does

Shift4 Payments, Inc. provides software and payment processing to businesses that range from small owner-operated local businesses to multinational enterprises. The company says it powers billions of transactions annually for hundreds of thousands of businesses in virtually every industry. As of 31 December 2025 it employed approximately 6,300 people, 67% of them outside the United States across 59 countries.

What it sells

The core product is a payments platform for in-store, online, mobile and tablet-based sales. It accepts credit, debit, contactless card, EMV, QR Pay and mobile wallets, plus alternative methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay and WeChat Pay. Its proprietary gateway connects to hundreds of software suites. Merchants can use the platform as a gateway only, or as an end-to-end payment solution that bundles acceptance, devices, point of sale software and business intelligence tools.

- SkyTab POS: purpose-built workstations with payment functions built in. - SkyTab Mobile: pay-at-the-table, order-at-the-table, delivery and marketing tools. - SkyTab Venue: mobile ordering, kiosks and digital wallets for stadiums, theme parks and entertainment venues. - Lighthouse: cloud-based business intelligence, including customer engagement and reputation management. - Shift4Shop: a turnkey eCommerce platform with over one hundred design themes. - The Giving Block: a cryptocurrency donation marketplace serving approximately 2,400 charities. - Marketplace: integrations with third-party applications such as DoorDash, payroll and loyalty tools.

Tax-free shopping

Through Global Blue, the company runs a cloud-based service that handles value-added tax refunds for merchants and non-resident travelers. Travelers receive a refund of the total tax paid, less a commission. The platform connects with more than 40 acquirers and PSP partners, more than 250 POS partners, 13 scheme integrations and over 20 customs validation export software platforms. The filing says tax-free schemes are available in approximately 50-60 countries. Changes to those schemes, such as Japan's move to a refund-based model effective November 2026, are described as a risk to this business.

How it earns its revenue

The company says its revenue is predominantly recurring. Most of it comes from processing fees, charged as a percentage of volume, as a fee per transaction, or both. It also earns subscription revenue from licensing POS software, business intelligence tools and payment device management, and from hardware and software license sales. Tax-free shopping commissions vary by merchant, country and purchase amount.

The company says gateway-only merchants pay lower per-transaction fees than end-to-end merchants, so it works to convert gateway customers to end-to-end processing. Its main costs of sales are interchange and processing fees owed to card issuing banks and card associations, and residual commissions paid to distribution partners. No single merchant has accounted for more than 3% of total revenue in recent years.

Who it sells through

Sales come from internal sales teams and from partners. Partners are independent software vendors, which build the company's payments into their own software, and value-added resellers, which bundle its products with their own services. The network includes thousands of partners. No single reseller accounted for more than 2% of revenue in 2025. Enterprise customers include stadiums, arenas, resorts and airlines. The company says its partners can typically board even the largest and most complex merchants within 24 hours of submitting an application. Merchant support answers inquiries 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Where it operates and how it is regulated

The company's international payments business grew through the acquisition of Finaro, which serves merchants in Europe and the United Kingdom. In November 2025 it acquired Smartpay Holdings Limited, a payment processing and point-of-sale provider in Australia and New Zealand. Its regulated payment entities are a Maltese Financial Institution supervised by the Malta Financial Services Authority, a UK Authorised Payment Institution supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and an Italian Payment Institution supervised by the Bank of Italy.

It must follow the rules of Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and other networks. Entities that are not member banks rely on a sponsor bank. It also follows PCI DSS security standards. Named competitors include Chase Paymentech, Elavon, Worldpay, Fiserv, Global Payments, Adyen, Lightspeed, Shopify, Square and Toast, as well as FreedomPay in hospitality.

Its people

About 33% of employees are in the United States. The U.S. workforce is not unionized. After the Global Blue acquisition, some international employees are represented by works councils, trade unions or collective bargaining agreements in countries including Finland, Sweden, Norway, Slovakia, Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Morocco. Approximately 40% of employees identify as female. Taylor Lauber became Chief Executive Officer in June 2025 and Chairman of the Board in December 2025. He succeeded the founder, Jared Isaacman.

*From Shift4's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025. [The filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1794669/000179466926000010/four-20251231.htm)*

From the company's 10-K.