Shift4 Payments
FOUR on NYSE. Shift4 sells payment processing and software to businesses of all sizes. Market value $3.0bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Some use the latest annual report instead, as marked. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Capital spending looks too small to be complete, so we leave free cash flow out.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
See Financial services stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
We could not compute this from the filings.
You pay 18.5 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 5 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 43 of 100. Price score: 57 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$38.50 a share, 11% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $34.56 to $80.98.
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $1.4bn | $2.0bn | $2.6bn | $3.3bn | $4.2bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | -3.6% | 4.8% | 4.5% | 7.4% | 8.4% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 6.37 | 5.10 | 2.68 | 3.52 | 3.15 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | n/a | 0.00bn | 0.00bn | 0.00bn | 0.08bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive0 of 1 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)6 of 8 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt3.15× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 40.4% a year
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $1.3 billion last quarter, up 34% on a year ago.
- Profit: $22 million, down 35% on a year ago.
- It keeps 8 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, about the same as a year earlier.
- Debt is $4.2 billion more than cash, up from $703 million a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $909m |
| December 2024 | $887m |
| March 2025 | $848m |
| June 2025 | $966m |
| September 2025 | $1.2bn |
| December 2025 | $1.2bn |
| March 2026 | $1.1bn |
| June 2026 | $1.3bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $54m |
| December 2024 | $116m |
| March 2025 | $17m |
| June 2025 | $34m |
| September 2025 | $28m |
| December 2025 | $40m |
| March 2026 | $15m |
| June 2026 | $22m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 27 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 5 November 2026
Who owns it
2 long-term investors we follow own it, down from 3 last quarter. 358 funds in all.
- Miller Value PartnersBill Miller IV
- Value
- $1m
- Share of fund
- 0.3%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $7m | <0.1% | Cut |
| Miller Value PartnersBill Miller IV | $1m | 0.3% |
Sold out this quarter
- Royce & AssociatesChuck RoyceSold out
Largest holders overall
- Darlington Partners Capital Management, LP$348mAdded
- BlackRock$272mCut
- Durable Capital Partners LP$215mCut
- Ensign Peak Advisors$149m
- Neuberger Berman Group$129mAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$124mAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$113mAdded
- Wasatch Advisors LP$106mCut
- Marshall Wace, LLP$99mAdded
- State Street$96mCut
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
4 investors own more than 5%.
- Jared IsaacmanPassive investorat least 25.2%+0.5 pts(filed with 1 related holder)Since 31 December 2025
- Darlington Partners Capital Management, LPPassive investorat least 8.3%+0.1 pts(filed with 4 related holders)Since 31 March 2026
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor7.4%−1.1 ptsSince 30 June 2026
- Durable Capital Partners LPPassive investor5.6%−2.0 ptsSince 30 June 2026
- PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL INCPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 31 December 2024
- Jennison Associates LLCPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 31 December 2024
- Wasatch Advisors LPPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 June 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Jared Isaacman Passive investor | at least 25.2%+0.5 pts (filed with 1 related holder) | 31 December 2025 | |
Darlington Partners Capital Management, LP Passive investor | at least 8.3%+0.1 pts (filed with 4 related holders) | 31 March 2026 | |
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 7.4%−1.1 pts | 30 June 2026 | |
Durable Capital Partners LP Passive investor | 5.6%−2.0 pts | 30 June 2026 | |
PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL INC Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 31 December 2024 | |
Jennison Associates LLC Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 31 December 2024 | |
Wasatch Advisors LP Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 June 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
No insider bought shares on the open market in the last 12 months. 3 sold $1m, $450,317 of it under preset trading plans.
- Disman NancyDirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 11 December 2025
- Shares
- 5,000
- Price
- $69.50
- Value
- $347,500
- Lauber David TaylorChief Executive Officer, DirectorSold
- Date
- 11 December 2025
- Shares
- 12,000
- Price
- $69.00
- Value
- $828,054
- Whalen James J.See RemarksSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 12 November 2025
- Shares
- 1,438
- Price
- $71.50
- Value
- $102,817
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 December 2025 | Disman Nancy Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 5,000 | $69.50 | $347,500 |
| 11 December 2025 | Lauber David Taylor Chief Executive Officer, Director | Sold | 12,000 | $69.00 | $828,054 |
| 12 November 2025 | Whalen James J. See Remarks | Sold under a preset trading plan | 1,438 | $71.50 | $102,817 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 27 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 6 Aug 2026 and 5 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- It carries a lot of debt: 3.2× its equity.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.