Headlines:
Higher Profit Forecast Lifts CheckFree Conditional Approval for Axalto-Gemplus NCR Scores ATM Deals in Italy and Spain
Higher Profit Forecast Lifts CheckFree
CheckFree Corp.'s stock is trading higher this week after JPMorgan Securities Inc. raised its earnings forecast on the Atlanta bill payment outfit.
In a research note published Tuesday, JPMorgan analyst Tien-tsin Huang said CheckFree would report earning of $1.72 per share for fiscal 2006 and $1.99 for 2007; earlier he had forecast $1.68 and $1.92.
Wednesday afternoon, CheckFree shares were trading at $50.25. They closed at $50.19 on Monday, before Mr. Huang issued his note.
Mr. Huang wrote that Wachovia Corp.'s transition to CheckFree's bill-pay system is on track and that the Charlotte banking company's pending acquisition of Golden West Financial Corp. "presents a nice longer-term opportunity for CKFR as Golden West has no online bill-pay solution."
Bank of America Corp., a longtime CheckFree customer, also holds promise for CheckFree. Only 20% of the Charlotte company's checking account customers pay bills at its Web site, but B of A has said it would eventually like that number to reach 100%.
"We acknowledge that the fundamental outlook is solid" for CheckFree, he wrote.
Conditional Approval for Axalto-Gemplus
The European Commission has approved the merger of the smart card companies Axalto Holding NV and Gemplus International SA, with a few conditions.
Axalto and Gemplus said last week that the commission told them they must continue to license certain patents to competitors for 10 years and continue to provide competitors with the information they need to ensure interoperability of mobile phone SIM cards.
The merger was announced in December. The U.S. Deptartment of Justice said in March that it had no objections to the merger. Axalto is based in Amsterdam, Gemplus in Luxembourg.
NCR Scores ATM Deals in Italy and Spain
NCR Corp. has signed two automated teller machine deals in Europe.
Poste Italiane, the national post office, has agreed to install 1,000 Personas M Series ATMs in branches, NCR announced Friday.
Poste Italiane will also use NCR technology to let customers pay bills and taxes through ATMs. People will be able to insert postal payment slips into an ATM and pay for the transaction with an ATM card or bank debit card.
The Dayton, Ohio, company also announced Friday that it had landed a contract with El Monte, a Barcelona saving bank.
The bank agreed to use NCR's online ATM management technology, Gasper Vantage, for its 550 ATMs. Gasper Vantage can notify service teams if an ATM is having problems and can help increase the machines' availability.
