FOUR vs GPN Stock Comparison

Shift4 Payments and Global Payments Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
FOUR Shift4 Payments, Inc.
$36.97 -3.9% 1M -51.5% 1Y
Market cap
$3.00B
P/E
68.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$4.78B
Div. yield
–
Payment Processing Technology
4 wins
GPN Global Payments Inc
$81.87 -5.4% 1M -6.3% 1Y
Market cap
$21.98B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$10.23B
Div. yield
0.01%
Payment Processing Technology
6 wins

Head to Head

10 decided of 12

Global Payments leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Global Payments 6, Shift4 Payments 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionFOURGPNLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $3.00B $21.98B GPN
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 68.5x -23.5x –
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 6.7x 6.4x GPN
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +32.4% +32.5% GPN
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 0.9% -9.1% FOUR
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 4.9% 2.3% FOUR
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 4.5x 4.8x FOUR
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.01% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -51.5% -6.3% GPN
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -12.5%/yr -10.7%/yr GPN
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 66.3% 40.6% GPN
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 65/100 50/100 FOUR

Percentile Scorecard

FOURGPN

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisFOURGPN
Valuation 88 #13 of 99 75 #26 of 99
Growth 70 #29 of 94 26 #70 of 94
Profitability 67 #30 of 90 64 #33 of 90
Financial Health 18 #86 of 105 23 #81 of 105
Shareholder Returns 83 #11 of 61 62 #24 of 61
Overall 65 50
  • FOUR ranked among 109 companies in Fintech
  • GPN ranked among 109 companies in Fintech

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodFOURGPNSPY
1 month -3.9%-5.4% -0.8%
3 months -26.0%-2.6% +3.5%
6 months -17.8%+19.8% +7.0%
Year to date -41.3%+5.8% +12.2%
1 year -51.5%-6.3% +13.0%
3 years -15.2%-20.3% +86.3%
3 years, per year -5.4%-7.3% +23.1%
5 years -48.6%-43.2% +68.6%
5 years, per year -12.5%-10.7% +11.0%
10 years —+11.1% +258.0%
10 years, per year —+1.1% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureFOURGPNSPY
Volatility, 1Y 66.3%40.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 70.0%37.1% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.431.02 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.78-0.15 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -71.7%-58.8% -25.4%
From 52-week high -51.8%-13.7% -1.8%
52-week high $76.76$94.85 $779.14
52-week low $35.57$62.47 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleFOURGPN
P/E now vs peer median 66.9xmedian 20.6x -23.7xmedian 20.6x
P/S now vs peer median 1.2xmedian 2.3x 2.1xmedian 2.3x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 10.6xmedian 15.4x 10.6xmedian 15.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 13.3xmedian 16.4x 26.5xmedian 16.4x
P/B now vs peer median 3.3xmedian 1.9x 0.9xmedian 1.9x
PEG now vs peer median -1.96median 1.05 0.51median 1.05

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsFOURGPN
Revenue $4.78B $10.23B
Gross profit $1.72B $6.54B
Operating income $387.50M $1.27B
Net income $122.40M -$873.78M
Free cash flow $433.00M $822.72M
EPS (diluted) $0.55 $-3.46
Cash & equivalents $356.00M $5.41B
Total debt $4.51B $23.56B
Shares (diluted) 79.64M 270.12M
Enterprise value -$302.93M -$227.11M

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricFOURGPN
P/E 66.9x -23.7x
P/FCF 13.3x 26.5x
P/Operating cash flow 9.7x 13.1x
P/S 1.2x 2.1x
P/B 3.3x 0.9x
P/Tangible book -4.9x 5.0x
EV/EBITDA 10.6x 10.6x
EV/EBIT 25.6x 31.5x
EV/Revenue 2.1x 3.9x
EV/FCF 22.9x 48.5x
EV/Operating cash flow 16.7x 24.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -1.96 0.51

Growth

14 metrics
MetricFOURGPN
Revenue growth (1Y) 32.4% 32.5%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 28.2% 3.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 55.7% 14.8%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 42.6% 5.7%
Operating income growth (1Y) 41.2% -33.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 45.3% -4.4%
Net income growth (1Y) -55.2% -158.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -4.9% -44.6%
EPS growth (1Y) -77.1% -158.9%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -34.2% -46.2%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 16.0% -46.4%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 16.4% -9.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 8.8% -66.6%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 13.3% -19.7%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricFOURGPN
Gross margin 35.9% 63.9%
EBITDA margin 19.5% 36.8%
Operating margin 8.1% 12.4%
Pretax margin 3.2% 5.5%
Net margin 0.9% -9.1%
FCF margin 9.1% 8.0%
Operating cash flow margin 12.4% 16.2%
Return on equity 7.0% -3.5%
Return on assets 1.4% -1.3%
Return on invested capital 4.9% 2.3%
Return on capital employed 5.5% 2.5%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 4.8x -1.9x
Stock comp / revenue 1.8% 1.3%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricFOURGPN
Debt / assets 51.9% 37.1%
Debt / equity 2.6x 1.0x
Net debt / EBITDA 4.5x 4.8x
Debt / FCF 10.4x 28.6x
Liabilities / assets 80.1% 62.6%
Equity / assets 19.9% 37.4%
Interest coverage 1.5x 1.5x
Current ratio 1.2x 0.8x
Quick ratio 1.1x 0.7x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.4x
Altman Z-score 1.14 0.60

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricFOURGPN
Dividend yield – 1.2%
Net buyback yield 10.9% 7.2%
Shareholder yield 10.9% 8.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) – -28.8%
Payout ratio (FCF) – 30.6%
Dividend growth (1Y) – 1.8%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – -1.7%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusFOURGPN
Forward P/E 6.7xFY2026 6.4xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $5.50FY2026 $12.82FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +6.4%FY2026 +4.9%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +8.7% +18.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $2.44BFY2026 $12.66BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +23.2%FY2026 +35.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +6.6% +8.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersFOURGPN
Held by institutions 44.4% 100.0%
Institutions holding 358 792
Change in shares held, QoQ -2.3% +7.4%
Institutions buying 187 374
Institutions selling 142 307
Buyers to sellers 1.32 1.22

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

FOURGPN
FOUR 1.00 0.58
GPN 0.58 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, FOUR and GPN?

Global Payments (GPN) is the largest by market capitalisation: Shift4 Payments (FOUR) $3.00B, Global Payments (GPN) $21.98B.

Which company is growing faster?

Global Payments (GPN) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Shift4 Payments (FOUR) +32.4%, Global Payments (GPN) +32.5%.

Which company is more profitable?

Shift4 Payments (FOUR) has the highest net margin (Shift4 Payments (FOUR) 0.9%, Global Payments (GPN) -9.1%). On return on invested capital, Shift4 Payments (FOUR) leads (Shift4 Payments (FOUR) 4.9%, Global Payments (GPN) 2.3%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Global Payments (GPN) returned the most: Shift4 Payments (FOUR) -51.5%, Global Payments (GPN) -6.3%. Over five years, Global Payments (GPN) compounded fastest (Shift4 Payments (FOUR) -12.5%/yr, Global Payments (GPN) -10.7%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Shift4 Payments (FOUR) 0.00%, Global Payments (GPN) 0.01%. Shift4 Payments (FOUR) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Global Payments (GPN) has been the steadiest (Shift4 Payments (FOUR) 66.3%, Global Payments (GPN) 40.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do FOUR and GPN move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.58, a moderate positive relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, FOUR and GPN?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Global Payments (GPN) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.