Dive Brief:

• Fiserv executives spent much of Wednesday's second-quarter earnings call explaining why the payments processing behemoth's revenue for the quarter came in below Wall Street analysts’ expectations.
• Milwaukee-based Fiserv reported 8% revenue growth for the second quarter compared to the same quarter in 2024. That was lower than the double-digit growth figures that some analysts projected.
• Fiserv also adjusted its revenue projections for the rest of 2025, CEO Mike Lyons told investors on Wednesday’s call. The previous guidance predicted between 10% and 12% revenue growth compared to 2024, he said. The updated guidance now projects 10% revenue growth for the year, Fiserv’s second-quarter earnings release showed.

Dive Insight:

Lyons and Chief Financial Officer Bob Hau attributed the lower-than-expected figures to delayed initiatives, along with economic uncertainty. 

“Some of that is on us, and some is driven by factors that we don’t fully control,” Lyons said during prepared remarks, although he did not elaborate.

The CEO singled out the unified payments platform Commerce Hub and the billing platform CashFlow Central as services the company hoped would have expanded more so far this year.

He provided few additional details, even when pressed by analysts during the question-and-answer session on Wednesday’s call.

Fiserv is not falling short of its revenue projections, a spokesperson stressed in an emailed statement, the company instead expects to see revenue at the lower end of the range it projected earlier in the year.

"The delays mentioned [in the earnings call] are not specific to any products or initiatives," the spokesperson said. "Instead, we are experiencing longer-than-expected timelines to market in some cases and to implement products in others. These are simply timing adjustments, not changes in strategy. We remain confident in the long-term value of these initiatives."

Fiserv also announced on Wednesday an agreement to buy part of TD Bank Group’s Canadian merchant processing business. The deal includes a portfolio of 3,400 small businesses at 30,000 locations that will migrate to Fiserv's Clover point-of-sale system, a Wednesday news release said. 

The release also said the payment processor signed a multi-year agreement to provide Clover’s services to Canadian businesses supported by TD Merchant Solutions.

While Lyons hinted at “an uncertain macro environment,” he did not directly link the earnings figures to economic headwinds. Still,forecasters have projected a possible recession this year. JPMorgan Chase in May put the odds of the economy sliding into recession in the second half of the year at 40%, citing, among other things, President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff threats.

Previous growth projections were based on “a relatively strong macroeconomic outlook,” Lyons said of the revised revenue forecast during the earnings call, but stressed that Fiserv still expects revenue growth to pick up in the second half of 2025, compared to the first half.

The processor reported $5.52 billion in revenue for the second quarter, an 8% increase over the $5.1 billion it reported in the year-ago quarter. The company also reported second-quarter net income rose 14% to $1.02 billion, from $894 million in the year ago quarter.

The company’s stock has been in a downward trend this year as the business adjusts to leadership changes after Frank Bisignano said late last year he would exit Fiserv’ CEO post to lead the Social Security Administration under the Trump administration. Lyons stepped into the role in May.

Fiserv’s stock fell on Wednesday following the company’s earnings report. The stock price closed at $143 Wednesday after touching $128.22, down from a close of $165.98 on Tuesday, according to Yahoo Finance data.

Analysts had mixed views of near-term prospects for Fiserv. “We anticipate a modest second half 2025 organic revenue growth reacceleration,” analysts for the financial firm William Blair wrote in a note to investors following the earnings call.

Although they added, “that said, near-term performance will likely be choppy, and we think management will have to dig out of a credibility hole of its own making.”