Shift4 Shares Fall After Earnings Report, Revenue Forecast Adjusted `Modestly’ Upward

Aug. 5, 2025

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

Shares in Shift4 fell hard today after the Lehigh County-based payment processer reported second-quarter results.

At 3:11 p.m., shares (NYSE:FOUR) were down $17.20, or 17%, to $85.00.

Net income for the quarter was $41.1 million, or 32 cents per share on a diluted Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) basis.

Adjusted net income was $1.10 per Class A and C shares. Adjusted income excludes items the company considers to be one-time or unusual.

Wall Street had expected adjusted EPS of $1.20, based on a survey by Zacks, which surveys analysts.

So far, 2025 has been a big year for Shift4. Founder Jared Isaacman moved up to executive chairman after his nomination to run NASA was withdrawn, and President Taylor Lauber took his place as CEO.

Also today, Lauber announced the retirement of Chief Financial Officer Nancy Disman. Board of Directors member Chris Cruz will succeed her. Disman will still be around as a board member.

The new CEO also raised revenue forecasts “modestly” for the rest of this year, and said Global Blue, a firm it acquired, will contribute to revenue and adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation) for the rest of this year.

Shares of Shift4 have traded as high as $127.50 and as low as $61.09 in the last 52 weeks. Whether this fall will be viewed as a chance to buy in remains to be seen.

–Disclosure: I’m a former shareholder of FOUR and did pretty well with it, missing the high but still making some money.

Shift4 was founded in 1999 by the then-16-year-old Isaacman. It processes credit-card payments at hotels, restaurants, sports venues, casinos and other businesses, and is moving into other businesses and expanding in Europe.

Shift4’s headquarters is in Upper Saucon Township.

Here is a link to the second-quarter release letter to shareholdershttps://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/_4ae149b368e1de16f267eb89acdd4cf8/shift4/db/3583/33823/pdf/Shareholder+Letter+6.30.2025_vF.pdf, and below is a cut-and-paste version of the shareholder letter from Lauber:

This quarter was a particularly eventful one at Shift4. We delivered results that were
largely within our expectations while also executing on numerous long-term strategic
objectives, which will pay off for many years to come. We are raising our standalone
revenue guidance modestly for the remainder of the year and will separately be
reflecting the impact of Global Blue’s contribution since closing in early July.
Regarding our financial results, payment volumes were $50 billion, gross revenues less
network fees were $413 million and adjusted EBITDA were $205 million. Each of these
were records for Q2 and up 25%, 29% and 26% from the previous year respectively.
Most importantly, payment spreads remained stable and the business mix was more
diversified by geography and industry vertical than at any other point in our history.
International spreads have generally been more favorable than our early forecasts,
which we anticipate to continue. Please see page 6 for a summary of how payment
volume has been diversified over the last few years.
These results are not by chance. They are the results of having industry leading
products across large economic verticals: Hotels, Restaurants, Sports & Entertainment,
etc., an excellent team and a winning capital allocation strategy. In the quarter we
continued to add incredible customers and have highlighted a few in this quarter’s
update.
We also completed a raise of debt and convertible preferred stock. This was very well
received by the markets and was over 6x oversubscribed. We used the opportunity to
finance the Global Blue acquisition, raise capital and extend maturities. As a result we
have a balance sheet that affords us the ability to continue to invest in both short and
long term needle movers.
The closing of Global Blue puts us on yet another transformational journey. Our
revised 2025 guidance now assumes a $330M revenue contribution and $125M
adjusted EBITDA contribution from Global Blue for the remainder of the year. On page
18 you will find a reconciliation bridge to help illustrate how their performance will
contribute to Shift4.
We now have an industry leading product in an entirely new vertical, luxury retail, and
operate in six continents. Most importantly the acquisition brings our cross-sell funnel
to over $1 trillion in payments volume. This means “a foot in the door” to the best
customers in the world and very few mysteries as to where our next $1 trillion in
volume will come from.

We are tracking well towards our medium term guidance and for the “most likely case”, which as you recall contemplates a 30% 3 Year CAGR on Gross Revenues Less
Network Fees and Adjusted EBITDA and, most importantly, a $1 billion free-cash-flow
run rate.
It is with mixed emotions that I announce that Nancy Disman will be retiring from the
company at year end and rejoining our board of directors. Those of you who have
spent time with her clearly understand the incredible impact she’s had on the
organization and we feel privileged to continue to benefit from her expertise as a
board member. Chris Cruz, who has been with the organization for over a decade will
be joining full time as CFO. Chris saw the potential in the business and the team far
before we were the public company we are today and, through Searchlight Capital
purchased a 60% stake in Shift4 in 2016. He has been a board member ever since and
at the center of our most important decisions. Just like Nancy, he was a member of
our Audit Committee. We’re thrilled to have him join us full time.
As always, we thrive on ideas, feedback and, of course, customer introductions. Please
never hesitate to reach out.
Boldly Forward,
Taylor Lauber
Chief Executive Officer