After spending much of the past year at no better than a three-star rank, Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE: FIS) has impressed enough top-performing members of our 165,000-strong Motley Fool CAPS community to climb all the way up to five stars. A total of 108 members have given their opinion on the financial processing services company, with many of them offering analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.

With the banking sector showing some improvement and Fidelity National counting a large number of banks on its customer list, investors are optimistic as the economy recovers. The company reported better-than-expected first-quarter adjusted earnings and higher revenue, and management looks for the recent strength to continue. Its clients have shown more confidence in bank spending, and peer Fiserv (Nasdaq: FISV) expects stronger revenue growth in the second half of the year as well.

Fidelity National provides credit card and other services to financial institutions and is growing around the world. IBM (NYSE: IBM), which has large financial services exposure, recently reported strong quarterly performance from BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China), while credit card companies Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) recently expressed bullish outlooks for international and emerging markets. Fidelity National is bullish on its international growth: It will soon begin providing prepaid card processing for a major client in the Asia-Pacific region and plans to expand its offerings outside the U.S. It recently set up a new service center in the Philippines and, despite Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) leaving a Brazilian joint venture, anticipates plenty of growth in the South American country.      

Fidelity National spurned a leveraged buyout attempt by a consortium led by Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) and now hopes to create more value by pursuing a leveraged recapitalization with a substantial share repurchase. Such moves can add risk to a balance sheet, but some analysts believe its reliable cash flow from its recurring business can support the extra debt.

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