VeriFone Systems (PAY) posted fourth-quarter and full-year earnings results after the closing bell on Tuesday that beat analyst estimates. To be fair, though, Wall Street wasn't expecting very much from VeriFone in the first place. For the quarter ended October 2013, VeriFone reported non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.27, which was down more than 64% from the year-ago period but still topped analysts' estimates for net income of $0.26 per share in the period.
Revenue of $431 million in the quarter was also better than expected, whereas analysts were looking for quarterly revenue of just $421 million. For fiscal 2013, VeriFone's annual net revenue declined 9% to $1.7 billion, down from $1.87 billion in fiscal 2012. While these results were ahead of estimates, VeriFone's guidance for its first quarter of fiscal 2014 left a lot to be desired. The electronic payments company now expects first-quarter EPS of $0.26 and revenue between $425 million and $430 million . Meanwhile, analysts are hoping for Q1 earnings of $0.32 per share.
Today's earnings announcement marked the first quarterly results for the company since VeriFone's board of directors appointed Paul Galant as its new CEO. Galant comes to VeriFone from Citigroup, where he was formerly the chief executive officer of Citi's Enterprise payments unit.
Known for its point-of-sale electronic payment devices, VeriFone is still trying to catch up to rivals in the mobile payments space. However, with a new CEO, VeriFone finally appears ready to make mobile a priority. The stock is down 15% on the year, and currently trades around $25 a share.
