Fiserv is weathering the growth skepticism storm despite strong fundamentals & margin expansion 👀💳; Finance giants launch AI Shopping Agents in agentic commerce race 🤖🛍️

FinTech is Eating the World, 1 May

Hey Everyone,

Good morning & happy Thursday! Today’s issue is as hot as ever as we’re diving deep into Fiserv’s latest financials (how the payments giant is weathering the growth skepticism storm despite strong fundamentals & margin expansion and whether it’s worth your time and money in 2025 & beyond + more bonus reads inside), and looking at finance giants launching AI Shopping Agents in agentic commerce race (how Mastercard, PayPal and Visa want to capture value in the age of AI, why it matters & what’s next + bonus beginners guide to AI & the ultimate list of resources about AI Agents). So let’s just jump straight into the BIG stuff 🌶️

Fiserv is weathering the growth skepticism storm despite strong fundamentals & margin expansion 👀💳

Earnings time 🤑 Payments giant Fiserv FI 0.00%↑ recently posted its latest Q1 2025 results that reveal a company at a critical inflection point.

While delivering adjusted EPS of $2.14 (exceeding expectations by 3.4% and growing 14% year-over-year), the company's adjusted revenue of $4.79 billion missed consensus estimates.

This revenue shortfall, combined with a concerning 9% decline in processing revenue and management's guidance implying back-end loaded growth, triggered an unexpectedly severe market reaction with shares plummeting 18.5% post-earnings. Ouch 🤕

Despite these near-term challenges, Fiserv's operational execution still remains impressive, especially with material margin expansion.

Let’s dive deep into this, unpack the most important numbers, understand what they mean, and see whether Fiserv is worth your time and money in 2025 and beyond.