FOURShift4 Payments, Inc.
Is the business good?
The checks split: earnings fully cash-backed (1.9×) and margins widening, but returns that lean on debt.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash. Conversion is worsening vs a year ago.
Positive operating leverage, operating profit is growing faster than sales, so margins widen as the business scales.
Leverage-amplified, a high assets-to-equity ratio does much of the work. ROE 8% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is FOUR?
Shift4 Payments, Inc. earns 5.3% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 3.7 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 8.1%
Operating margin · Software - Infrastructure median 5.8% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.91×
Cash conversion · 2.36× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Gross margin
- 36%
Gross margin
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | −7.5% |
| FY2021 | −3.6% |
| FY2022 | 4.8% |
| FY2023 | 4.5% |
| FY2024 | 7.4% |
| FY2025 | 8.4% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 36%
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 8.1%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 2.2%
- Free cash flow margin
- 12%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $4.78B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $573M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $105M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 5.3%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.
Software, Infrastructure
Ranks #19 of 80 by RyuScore