Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, universal transaction system provider Net 1 UEPS Technologies
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Net 1's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Net 1 facts
| Headquarters (founded) | Johannesburg (1989) |
| Market Cap | $537.3 million |
| Industry | Application software |
| Trailing-12-Month Revenue | $280.4 million |
| Management | CEO Dr. Serge Belamant (since 2000) CFO Herman Kotze (since 2004) |
| Return on Equity (average, past 3 years) | 21.3% |
| Cash/Debt | $153.7 million / $4.3 million |
| Competitors |
American Express MasterCard Visa Discover Financial Services |
Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 98% of the 585 members who have rated Net 1 believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include tytymhorau and All-Star Seansonfire, who is ranked in the top 4% of our community.
This past summer, tytymhorau tapped Net 1 as a particularly smart decision: "A South African small-cap software company providing electronic payment systems/transaction cards for emerging country populations lacking bank accounts. Poised to profit as employment and standard of living improves in these regions."
As a leader in secure smart-card technology, Net 1 offers banking solutions for "under-banked" people who simply can't afford to open a conventional account. After all, more than 4 billion people in the world earn less than $2 per day. While credit card behemoths have taken a keen interest in the space recently, Net 1's smart cards are now compatible on the Visa, American Express, and MasterCard payment systems. And with UEPS trading at a clear forward P/E discount to each of those giants, not to mention Discover Financial, the shares seem like a relatively cheap bet, as well.
CAPS All-Star Seansonfire elaborates:
The product works alot like a debit card but the fees are smaller, and there is the ability to for it to "work offline", meaning the terminal you use doesn't need a constant connection to the Internet. ... It basically replaces cash by attaching your name/account to a card for which you basically use for all types of banking transactions.
The revenues are mainly generated in South Africa (where the company is located) but has recently extended outside of the South Africa into Europe and into other African Countries. The idea is truly the wave of the future, not only in underbanked but also in developed nations, and i think it spreads easily across Africa, and from the looks of it Europe as well.
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