Aug 6, 2026 earnings call — New CEO outlines strategy and updated guidance
Company updated second-half guidance leading to full-year organic revenue of minus 1% to flat and adjusted operating margin of 31% to 31.5%.
Revenue $5.0B (est $5.0B) · EPS $1.84 (est $1.91)
Key quotes
"To continue to advance these priorities, we have chosen to invest over $100 million incrementally into our technology infrastructure in the second half of the year, especially in the financial solutions business."
"To the first point, capital allocation, we are significantly expanding the process to review our mix of businesses and associated capital commitments."
"Just this week, Fiserv and Mastercard entered into a strategic partnership that integrates Mastercard's merchant cloud into Fiserv's Commerce Hub."
Analyst Q&A 11
Why second-half outlook changed
Q (Tien-Tsin Huang · JPMorgan): Analyst asked what specifically changed after the June 15 reaffirmation and whether the slower client ramps reflect leadership changes or are structural.
A: Management said four things caused the change: about 2 points from contracted revenue and Enterprise ramps, about 1 point from product and hardware, 1 point from Argentina anticipation, and 1 point from divestitures. They said the first two buckets are timing-related, not structural, and that most of the lost revenue is expected to come later. Management gave an example where a large client delayed a September/October go-live because of M&A, not because the deal size changed.
"So we expect to see the vast majority of that revenue." — Paul Todd (CFO)
Core banking outreach and Pismo
Q (Timothy Chiodo · UBS): Analyst asked how core banking outreach is progressing and whether leadership changes altered the approach. He also asked how Fiserv compares to Pismo over a multi-year view.
A: Management said they have been talking to clients and heard they want platforms that work, delivery of promises, good customer service, and help preparing for the future. They pointed to progress like a 70% reduction in incidents and an extra $100 million in infrastructure spend, and said Finxact plus Fiserv's wider products (digital, payments, embedded finance, issuing) give a broad competitive position. Management stressed continuity with long-tenured leaders and said recent Finxact growth and wins like Flagstar show momentum.
"They want good customer service, and they want us to help them prepare for the future, but not force our priorities on that." — Takis Georgakopoulos (CEO)
Portfolio review and team alignment
Q (Darrin Peller · Wolfe): Analyst asked how management ensures alignment after changes and for more color on the portfolio review, including what sizes of businesses might be divested and the timeline.
A: Management said they did a detailed portfolio review focused on areas not growing or lacking profitability and will evaluate whether each product is best-in-class or should be replaced or divested. They said they will prioritize places where they cannot effectively compete, will act with "a very high sense of urgency," and will report back as they make progress. On continuity, they said merchant and FS teams are experienced and execution continues while the CEO focuses on speed, focus, and technology excellence.
"we are going to do that with a very high sense of urgency, and we will report back as we make progress" — Takis Georgakopoulos (CEO)
Higher OpEx and SMB volumes
Q (Harshita Rawat · Bernstein): Analyst asked why OpEx guidance rose versus prior guidance and what the incremental investments are. She also asked whether SMB volumes ex Clover are deteriorating.
A: Management said total expense is about $100 million higher driven by technology infrastructure, especially cyber and overall infrastructure, to benefit clients and position the company for longer-term success. They said the expense base is largely fixed so revenue shortfalls hurt margins. On SMB, they said the sequential weakness mainly reflects the anniversary of CCV, while Clover SMB volume grew in the double-digit range and remains consistent with expectations and outlook.
"And that is our technology infrastructure area, particularly in the areas of cyber and just overall infrastructure, which we believe are in the right interest of both our clients, particularly on the solutions side." — Paul Todd (CFO)
Debit networks part of review
Q (Dan Dolev · Mizuho): Analyst asked whether assets like the debit network could be candidates for changes or divestiture.
A: Management said the debit networks are part of the holistic review and will be evaluated along with everything else. They described the networks as critical to clients and important to the business but would not comment on specifics until they have had more time in the role. Management repeated they need a few more weeks before detailing decisions.
"When I said we are going to do a holistic review of everything, obviously, the debit networks will be part of that review as well." — Takis Georgakopoulos (CEO)
Commerce Hub and Mastercard timeline
Q (William Nance · Goldman Sachs): Analyst asked about the Commerce Hub vision, the Mastercard partnership, and timing to bring capabilities together.
A: Management said Commerce Hub is an end-to-end modern stack that includes gateway, back end, value-added services and Clover as one integrated stack, and they have made record progress. They said Mastercard's capabilities are complementary and teams will go to market together; integration will take a couple of quarters to combine capabilities and should incrementally improve ability to win enterprise business. Management called Mastercard a great partner.
"There is an integration component, which is going to take a couple of quarters to bring those capabilities together, but I think that will incrementally improve our collective capability to win new business." — Takis Georgakopoulos (CEO)
How growth recovers into Q4
Q (Bryan Keane · Citi): Analyst asked how the company bridges from current quarter and Q3 to more normalized growth in Q4 and into 2027 given delays, hardware, and Argentina issues.
A: Management pointed to recurring revenue growing at 2% as the foundation because it is the vast majority of revenue. They said the ramping initiatives discussed at Investor Day are the key drivers of Q4 growth and that exit growth will align with their medium-term guidance. They also said the Argentina and hardware noise should begin to wane as they move into next year.
"So I would route you just to what we called out about our recurring revenue growing at 2% and that represents obviously the vast majority of the revenue of the company." — Paul Todd (CFO)
How to move faster at scale
Q (Andrew Schmidt · KeyBanc): Analyst asked how management will speed execution and product velocity across the technology stack and culture.
A: Management said progress already started by hiring a strong product organization on both BMS and DFS, and by creating a clear end-to-end strategy and anchoring on one platform where appropriate. They said they will stop spending time and tech dollars on things without a clear near-term path, improve collaboration across merchant and financial solutions, and invest to eliminate legacy platforms and data centers to improve experience, security, and future cost structure.
"It started with hiring a strong product organization, which I think we've done on both BMS and DFS side." — Takis Georgakopoulos (CEO)
Financial Solutions organic drop
Q (James Friedman · Susquehanna): Analyst asked why Financial Solutions organic revenue fell 8% while items like Finxact, core accounts, and Zelle showed growth, and when comps ease.
A: Management said digital volumes were strong across debit processing, issuer accounts on file, issuer transactions, and Finxact growth. They said the segment faced a preponderance of nonrecurring revenue headwind in the second quarter. Removing that noise, they said Financial Solutions grew at a low single-digit rate in the first quarter and that underlying volumes stabilized or strengthened.
"We do have the preponderance of the nonrecurring revenue headwind is in Financial Solutions in the second quarter." — Paul Todd (CFO)
Pricing lapping and current yields
Q (James Faucette · Morgan Stanley): Analyst asked when the company fully laps prior pricing rollbacks (Clover) and what the current pricing environment looks like, including competition.
A: Management said the fourth quarter is when they lap the pricing moves from last year. They said the yield environment is stable for the quarter and the rest of the year, both overall and for Clover specifically. Management added they monitor competitor pricing, focus on delivering customer value, and are rolling out new Clover features (Clover Agent pilot, PracticePay) to improve satisfaction and the ability to generate higher yield.
"So as it relates to the lapping, the fourth quarter is the lapping of those pricing moves that we talked about last year." — Paul Todd (CFO)
Hardware sales headwind details
Q (Jason Kupferberg · Wells Fargo): Analyst asked to size the hardware impact in the merchant business and whether the cause is slower new customer acquisition or other drivers.
A: Management said they now see a tougher back-half environment for hitting hardware sales targets because of an elevated amount of hardware sales in the past and market dynamics, making it a meaningful headwind. They said hardware makes up about half of the Clover headwind and anticipation the other half. Management called this a temporary headwind driven by past sales and said they have not seen a material change in new merchant counts; over time Clover will shift more toward software and larger clients.
"I called out about the Clover headwinds that we have there between both anticipation and hardware. Hardware makes up about half of that headwind and then the anticipation makes up roughly the other half." — Paul Todd (CFO)