Global Payments downgraded to Hold at Jefferies after Worldpay acquisition

Jefferies downgraded Global Payments (GPN) to Hold from Buy with a price target of $75, down from $100. It is clear that scale-driven deals in merchant acquiring are unlikely to work, says the firm, which struggles to see how Worldpay and Global Payments, which it says “both have long-term challenges, are ultimately additive to each other. Taking up leverage and leaning into a more cyclical mix of assets is “unlikely to find incremental support in the current backdrop,” the analyst argues.