- NCR's (NCR -2.7%) $1.65B acquisition of Digital Insight will help the company conceal its "inability to grow EPS 14-18% organically as guided," says Wedbush, which is reiterating a Neutral.
- The firm also questions NCR's ability to cross-sell Digital's online/mobile banking software, and thinks it paid a steep price (16x EBITDA), especially since Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) sold Digital to Thoma Bravo for just $1.025B a few months ago. But it's worth noting sources tell Fortune intuit was forced to sell low due to the fact it was "intent on selling Digital Insight at warp speed."
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Compass Point, which has upgraded NCR to Buy, is more positive. It sees the acquisitions of both Digital Insight and Alaric Systems improving NCR's financial service growth and margin profile, and notes NCR's business mix now looks "much more like major financial technology players such as Fiserv and FIS Global as compared to legacy competitor Diebold."
- Industry analyst David Albertazzi likes how the deal expands NCR's multi-channel banking reach, given how many transactions have "migrated out of [bank] branches," and thinks ATM could use Digital Insight to create services relying on both ATMs and mobile apps.