**The closing price of Shift4 was $99.12, down 5%. The stock is still near its 52-week high.
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Shift4, a Lehigh County-based payment processor, reported third-quarter adjusted earnings today of $96.2 million, or $1.04 per share.
Shares (NYSE:FOUR) fell to $93.50 in early trading at 8:14 a.m. Tuesday, down $11.41 from Monday’s close of $104.91. After regular trading started, the shares recovered. The price at 9:50 a.m. was $104.74, down just 17 cents.
The adjusted EPS number fell short of the $1.11 estimate from Zacks, which compiles forecasts of industry analysts.
Shift4 held a conference call at 8:30 a.m. A replay of that call will be posted on Shift4’s investor relations website.
The Upper Saucon Township-based company processes payments for hotels, restaurants, sports teams and other businesses.
— Disclosure: I own shares in Shift4 as part of a buy-and-hold strategy. While I think the company is moving forward, its earnings releases are awkward. I read through 10s of thousands of releases when I was an editor for a wire service and Shift4’s is hard to process quickly. Today’s EPS numbers don’t even show up until the sixth page.
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 