What Happened?
Shares of business payments company Corpay (NYSE: CPAY) jumped 11.8% in the afternoon session after the company reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and provided a strong outlook for 2026.
The company's revenue for the quarter rose 20.7% year on year to $1.25 billion, narrowly beating analysts' estimates. Its adjusted earnings of $6.04 per share also came in ahead of expectations. Looking forward, Corpay provided upbeat guidance for the full year 2026. It projected revenue between $5.215 billion and $5.315 billion and guided for adjusted earnings per share between $25.50 and $26.50, with the midpoints for both forecasts surpassing Wall Street's consensus.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Corpay’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 8 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for Corpay and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 15 days ago when the stock gained 2.9% on the news that Jefferies raised its price target on the stock to $370 from $335 while maintaining its Buy rating.
The move signaled analyst confidence in the company's future. According to data from FactSet, Corpay held an average analyst rating of overweight with a mean price target of $359.57. Separately, the company released a report identifying a gap between the ambition for automation in finance departments and the reality of their current manual systems. The report noted that the company's Corpay Complete product was designed to close this gap by unifying payments, expenses, and supplier management.
Corpay is up 11.5% since the beginning of the year, but at $335.04 per share, it is still trading 14% below its 52-week high of $389.55 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Corpay’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,302.
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