The stock of payments processor Fiserv (FI) plunged early Wednesday after the fintech firm slashed its annual earnings guidance and announced a broad reshuffling across its senior ranks.
Fiserv’s stock dropped as much as 47% Wednesday, putting it on pace for its biggest one-day fall on record and a seven-year low for its stock price. The stock is currently down more than 60% for the year.
“By now, you’ve seen our results and revised guidance for the year,” Fiserv CEO Mike Lyons told analysts Wednesday. “While disappointing, the actions we are taking are driven by a rigorous analysis of the company conducted during the third quarter and represent a critical and necessary reset and a revitalizing moment for the company.”
The Milwaukee, Wis.-based fintech company said in its third quarter earnings results that it now expects its full-year adjusted earnings per share to fall 16% from its previous forecast of $10.15 to $10.30 per share to a range of $8.50 to $8.60 per share.
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Fiserv acts as an infrastructure provider that handles payment, banking, and other back-office operations for a wide range of companies, from banks and other financial firms to governments and retailers.
Lyons, a former senior executive at PNC, was named Fiserv CEO back in February after its previous chief executive, Frank Bisignano, was tapped by President Trump to lead the Social Security Administration. Bisignano was named CEO of the Internal Revenue Service earlier this month.
The fresh CEO said Fiserv’s earnings guidance changes came down to a series of factors, including the impact of deferred investments and the “recalibration of optimistic growth assumptions in the original guidance,” which was driven by slowing growth in its Argentina operations.
In addition to cutting guidance, Lyons announced an overhaul of his management team and board of directors, along with a new strategic action plan called One Fiserv.
Lyons said that while Fiserv’s guidance forecast slowing growth in that business compared to the prior two years, it also assumed its other businesses would “grow significantly faster” than their historical average to compensate for the drag.
Lyons told analysts during its Wednesday earnings call that Fiserv will refrain from giving medium- to long-term earnings guidance until its investor day, scheduled for the middle of November.
Fiserv also appointed Takis Georgakopoulos, Fiserv’s COO, and Dhivya Suryadevara, a former United Healthcare Group executive, as new co-presidents who will serve over the company’s two main business divisions: merchant solutions and financial solutions.
